Summoned Roses
by H20Phobic
Summary: A summoner from another world gets stuck in Remnant because of a lazy goddess and when misfortune strikes it causes him to be stuck there indefinitely, meeting with team RWBY the summoner is forced to temporarily enroll in beacon academy as a student. Join the summoner, team RWBY and CO. as they figure out how to send him back home. Takes place in VOL 3/4 ECT with a slight AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone let me just start out by saying this is my very first fan fiction and honestly i couldn't stop myself from not writing it anymore so here it is a Brave Frontier RWBY crossover. Im putting this here to let you know this is a test chapter and if this gets some good responses then ill keep posting chapters to the best of my ability but if it doesn't then ill just drop it so let me know what you guys think about it. Please comment on what I could do better and all that junk. For those of you who dont know what Brave frontier is its a mobile game that is a lot of fun and it reminds me of Pokemon kinda but some of the terms that BF uses will be explained if this story continues. People who dont know what RWBY is its a web series/show made by roosterteeth and its top-tier. I do not own Brave frontier or RWBY all rights go to Gumi, Alim and Roosterteeth for their respective game/show. Enough editors notes tho please enjoy the story!  
**

Chapter One:Unexpected Destination

"Man I can't believe Professor Goodwitch has us doing night missions again. This absolutely sucks I want to go to bed!" Yang complained for what seemed the be the tenth time that night.

"Well perhaps we wouldn't be out here so late if a certain someone hadn't been sleeping all class only to wake up and try to beat on Jaune like a mindless barbarian." Weiss snipped the lack of sleep starting to make her even more aggravated than usual.

"Hey!" Yang protested putting her hand over her chest feigning hurt. "It's a combat class what would be the point of calling me down into the sparring arena with someone else in it and not have me fight them?"

"Gee I don't know maybe a display of the difference in some people's aura levels, which you would have known if you weren't drooling on the desk so you have no one but to blame for this mess but yourself. What is even worse however is the fact that we got dragged into your punishment so how about you stop your complaining and let's get to the last sector in this stupid forest and let's clear it so we can go back to the dorm rooms." Weiss responded.

Ruby and Blake stood on the sidelines using Weiss's rant to give them time to catch their breath and recollect their thoughts. Sighing Ruby spoke "As much as I want to have your back Yang this time Weiss is right so let's just get to the last area and clear it out as quick as possible"

Everyone nodded their heads in affirmation and with her usual spunk Ruby cried out "Alrighty team RWBY let's move out!"

*Ruins in Emerald Forest*

A bright flash of light illuminated the stone structures for a moment until finally the light faded leaving a single person standing in the clearing. The man stood looking around the area for a moment before sighing and pulling out a tablet looking device. "Tilith… you said I was going to a desert in Morgan this looks nothing like a desert in Morgan.

"Um sorry Tobias, Seria was yelling at me to hurry up and I guess I mixed up locations but I've had a lot of request for gate travel today and I'm exhausted" The voice on the tablet cried about in a cheery but distressed manner. "Sorry to do this to you but you're just going to have to rough it for the night because this goddess needs her beauty sleep!"

"Wait Tilith NO!" Tobias managed to yell out before the call was disconnected. "…great… wonderful." Tobias grumbled as he put the tablet back into his jacket looking around him to see if he could find some shelter close by which there wasn't. sighing to himself muttering a few displeased curses towards a lazy goddess he began to hike into the forest hoping he wouldn't have to walk to far to find some place to sleep. "The only thing that would make this worse" Tobias harshly muttered to himself "is if…" a peculiarly warm breeze blew past him causing him to freeze "I was attacked by…" he slowly turning to see what had caused the disturbance in the air "a giant…wolf…" The wolf currently staring down Tobias was easily three feet taller with claws as long as his entire hand and covered in a white bone like armor plating all around its body. They stared at each other for a split second until the wolf suddenly swiped out catching Tobias by surprise ripping his jacket. "Oh son of a bitch." Tobias started as he began to run thinking of who he could call to help him unfortunately the only thing running through his head was giant wolf attacking him "Giant wolf. Wait that's it!" "ABYSSAL WITCH CIARA I SUMMON YOU" Tobias screamed out and instantly a bright flash appeared blinding the wolf. For the second time that night the blinding light faded and left a figure standing. The only difference was that this figure gave off a horrifying dark aura with blood red eyes much like the wolf standing before her the only difference was her eyes were not glowing but the murderous intent in them was clear nonetheless. The wolf gave a fierce snarl at its new prey however that snarl was cut off rather abruptly as the wolf suddenly found itself in two separate pieces. Tobias walked up to Ciara's side and watched its body begin to disintegrate until it vanished into nothingness. "Interesting" Tobias noted "Maybe this world would be good for research."

"Summoner." a cold voice cut through the air

"Yes Ciara?" Tobias asked

Turning to face him with a scowl clearly planted on her face her piercing red eyes blazing with anger and the wolf ears on her head twitching constantly showing her agitation.

"Where are we."

Tobias frowned "I don't know." He told her

The butt of the scythe Ciara was holding slammed into the ground "I suggest you find out quickly summoner because that was a Grimm I just killed."

Tobias's eyes widened in shock "A Grimm?! You mean the things that turned you into…this?

"If you mean giving me strength Semira could have never imagined but at the price of countless lives lost and the destruction of countless villages then yes. They are the things that turned me into this" Ciara replied curtly gesturing at her body. "I am perfectly aware of who I really was but this new form conflicts with my old emotions." "I never was a big fan of the Grimm even after they gave me this power, but I do appreciate them" Ciara smiled cruelly "that's why I decided to keep them around"

"Yea…anyway" Tobias was cut off by numerous howls that seemed to come from everywhere "great." He muttered more of them. Looking around he saw at least 50 glowing red eyes staring at them as a cold sweat started to slide down his neck. "Do you think… You are going to need backup?"

Ciara looked around the area in a contemplative manner "No." she looked at Tobias and gave a feral grin "I've got this just stay behind me." She corrects her stance and flourishes her scythe and a wave of flames emanated from Ciara as she prepares herself. In one hand she holds a wicked scythe with a huge blade with intricate carvings along the sides with a blood red and gold metal and a purple crystal in the middle as well as another smaller version of the scythe on the bottom of the shaft. In the other she holds spirit fire blazing an ethereal blue. Next to her are two flaming Grimm wolf spirits which spin around her protectively all the while snarling at the red eyes still hiding in the bushes. "Summoner… in honor of me finding my long lost Grimm brethren may I introduce myself with a bang?" she asked in an amused fashion.

Tobias sighed "Okay but can you not ask for these all the times I still need to figure out how the energy concentrates and how you will heal and I don't have a lot of these left on me." Tobias pulled out a small red crystal which seemed to glow a bright yellow in the middle and a small red flask which he promptly tossed to Ciara. Then threw the crystal onto the ground and crushed it. Instantly the crushed essence began to rise up and float to Ciara who stood up straighter and inhaled it. Tobias locked eyes with Ciara and she threw him a sly grin

"Thanks for the energy summoner." She uncorked the bottle and drained the contents and shuddered then shot up as if she was struck by lightning which was currently but faintly flowing around her in a red color. Smirking as she strutted into the bushes were the wolves were lying in wait "OH my dear Grimm it has indeed been a long time since we last crossed paths" the first wolf decided it was time to strike and as it leaped into the air towards her only to be swiftly intercepted and torn apart by Ciara's personal wolf. "How rude, it's been years and this is how you greet me?" smiling sadistically as she continues to march into the horde of wolves. "So I was thinking we needed to do something to celebrate." The smirk still present on her face "I know!" she stated excitedly as she merged her scythe and spirit flame together and prepared to strike. "How about… a GRIMM PARADE!" as she said that she struck the first wolf in front of her causing the surrounding area to explode in hellfire. After explosion cleared and what wolves that weren't smoldering in the dirt recovered Ciara swiftly dashed into the fray cleaving wolves left and right in a deadly maelstrom of steel, fire and spirit wolves.

Tobias simply decided to hop into the lowest tree branch he could find and watch the fireworks happen as Ciara went to town on the so called Grimm. He grimaced as Ciara's wolves dragged a wolf that was trying to sneak up behind her and tore into it leaving a rather bloody mess. He tore his eyes away from the gruesome scene to continue watch Ciara her scythe spinning rapidly around her as she danced her dance of death smiling cruelly all the while. As the last Grimm was dispatched Ciara continue to flourish as she turned to Tobias with a slightly crazed grin and bowed ending with her scythe going over her back.

"Did you enjoy the show summoner?" She asked

"Yes it was truly amazing." Tobias responded dryly

Ciara began to strut towards him casting away her wolves and the flame in her right hand once she reached the tree he was sitting in and placed her scythe on the tree looking up at him as she fixed the rose pendant tucking it properly behind her ear and right before she could speak her ears twitched "Summoner we have some more company on their way but I don't believe it's more Grimm also I suggest you get your diplomatic face out because one of them is here already." Ciara deadpanned

"What!" Tobias yelled as he jumped down. "What do you mean one of them is here."

"Um Hello?" a tentative voice called out "Anyone here?"

"Ugh okay Ciara don't say a word okay?" Tobias pleaded.

"As you wish summoner." Ciara agreed.

Tobias cleared his throat as he walked around the tree "Yes hello!" Tobias walked towards the voice with a smile on his face hoping they were more friendly than the wolves he ran into.

"What are you doing here? Professor Goodwitch said there were no other hunters in the area" the voice asked suspiciously.

"Uhh." Tobias started nervously "W-we were out here to slip in some extra…practice."

Tobias still couldn't see the persons face but he saw three more forms dropping down from the trees and when the last one landed the area illuminated in a white light. Confused thinking the gate was opening again for some reason Tobias squinted and looked at the light but instead of a gate it was a snowflake looking glyph that was illuminating the surrounding. Disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to make a quick getaway through the gate in case something happened he instead turned his attention to the now four people standing in front of him. To say he was surprised was a bit of an understatement because what stood in front of him were four girls roughly his age.

"Are you alone?" the tallest one who had a huge mane of yellow hair stepped forward and asked in an equally suspicious tone as the first one.

"No im not my…partner is behind the tree." Tobias responded keeping his voice calm as to not risk any aggression.

"Well?" a shill voice range out coming from the one who seemed to be wearing all white even her hair which made Tobias worry about her stress levels and how she managed to stay clean jumping all around the forest. "Come out."

Ciara stepped out from behind the tree with keeping a straight face as she leaned against it but not moving forward next to Tobias.

"That everyone?" the one dressed in all black asked.

"Yes it's just us two" Tobias responded

The one wearing white frowned but kept silent this time and nodded in satisfaction

"Well…" the yellow one spoke again frowning at Ciara clearly not liking the look she was giving them. "Who are you and why are you here?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay back with chapter two um. Im not too sure about this chapter I feel like it might be a bit awkward but yea... im not too sure what else to say seeing as i got my introductions done in the first chapter sooo Tell me what you think and give me some reviews to let me know how i did and what i can improve on. So enough with the authors notes and please enjoy the story. (I own absolutely nothing)  
**

Chapter 2: Unexpected Guest

"Alrighty team RWBY let's move out!" Ruby cried

Weiss sighed, as tired she was it was hard to not get even a little bit motivated with the constant cheeriness and endless bounds of energy Ruby seemed to possess even though at times it got on her nerves. They moved quickly through the forest knowing that it was the last sector they needed to clear out so they could report to professor Goodwitch and go to bed for the night as soon as they passed the treeline into the next clearing Ruby shouted out "I see one!" "Let's do this team!" Ruby instantly flash stepping to the nearest beowolf and quickly decapitating it before it even realized there was somewhere there.

"Ruby would you stop rushing off ahead before something bad happens!" Weiss shouted after her

"Don't worry about it princess!" "It's nothing but Beowolfs!" Ruby shouted back as she continued her high speed killing spree.

Weiss immediately started to blush and she thankful for the darkness covering her face, Blake and Yang passed her while Yang snickered "Yeah come on princess lets just get this done"

Weiss stomped her foot into the ground "Do not call me that" she shouted angrily at Yang as she too jumped into the fray. Blake was the most efficient in these night missions seeing as her faunus heritage gave her excellent night vision as well as her having a tendency to stay up late at night and read, so when she saw a bright flash from over the cliff side and she confirmed it wasn't Weiss's glyphs she knew she wasn't seeing things and was wondering if anyone else had been sent out on missions that night. "Hey Weiss?" she asked

"Yes?" Weiss responded while running Myrtenaster through a Beowolf's chest.

"Were there more students than just us sent on night missions?"

"No why?" Weiss asked confused

"Well I saw a flash of light ove-" Blake suddenly ducked as a flaming yellow mass flew over her head plowing straight into the Beowolf that had some how managed to sneak up on her. Yang quickly dispatched it with some quick jabs and well placed shots from Ember Celica

"Cmon kitty cat you gotta pay more attention we can have you getting hurt out here now could we?" Yang asked

Blake frowned immediately displeased by the use of that nickname "Thanks for the backup but call me that again and i'll shoot you"

Yang walked up to her chuckling with a wide smile brimming with confidence

"I'm sure you will Blake that's what I love about ya" she said winking at her

Blake swiftly turned around to hide her blush, she knew Yang didn't mean it but it didn't mean it didn't affect her any less and her flirtatious nature did not help in the slightest. "Anyway… as I was saying before i'm pretty sure I saw some light over there." as she pointed out over the ruins suddenly a purplish flame rose up from the forest.

"Whoa okay something tells me someone is not celebrating with fireworks but I have never seen fire like that ever before even from dust… what about you Weiss?" Yang said as she was looking out over the clearing.

"No dust known to date has ever made that color of fire… not even mixing different dust together I would know." Weiss said as she shot a glare at Ruby

Ruby walked up to the rest of them chuckling sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck "well whatever it is I think we should investigate just to make sure that one it's not going to catch anything in the forest on fire and two it's not some sneaky White Fang business.

"Agreed." every said in unison.

"I'll get there first to see if there's a group of people so just be ready okay?" Ruby said

"Alright be careful baby sis" Yang said protectively giving her a hug.

"Yea I know" Ruby smiled back and then she flash stepped over the cliff face and into the darkness.

The rest waited exactly thirty seconds before they too lept off the cliff in pursuit of Ruby.

When WBY finally caught up with Ruby as she was questioning a stranger

"Weiss give us some light" Blake whispered and instantly a glyph behind Weiss illuminated the surrounding and revealed who was standing before them. It was a boy roughly their age and seemed to be only slightly taller than Yang if not the same height and dark curly hair. He wasn't too muscular he was built like a slightly thinner Juan if Yang had to compare him to anyone and he was wearing some loose jeans and what looked to be a torn jacket but what material it was she couldn't tell. "Are you alone?" Yang asked narrowing her eyes at the boy before them

"No my...partner is behind the tree." he replied in a clearly nervous but calm tone.

"Well?" Weiss spoke out "come out." As the second person appeared from behind the tree Yang had trouble containing her surprise and almost did a double take. The person behind the tree for all purposes looked like a sexy Halloween party blond long haired wolf faunus version of Ruby complete with a rose pendant in her ear. She however did not continue to walk up to them instead remained leaning against the tree she had just appeared behind while her face remained passive her eyes which were an unsettling red that the team as only ever seen when yang gets angry swept past them all and locked on to Ruby's with apparent interest. Yang didn't know why the new girl looking at Ruby like that put her on edge it was almost like she was eyeing up some prey, however when the girl broke her gaze away from Ruby and flashed Yang a smirk she immediately decided she did not like this girl. Frowning she stepped forward and asked "Well… Who are you and why are you here?"

The boy cleared his throat and spoke "My name is Tobias and this is Ciara we were out here to slip in some extra practice."

"With no weapons?" Ruby asked skeptically

"Oh, well I didn't bring mine but Ciara's is behind the tree." he responded

"Are you buying any of this Weiss?" Blake asked.

" No I am willing to put a lot of money on the fact that they are lying." Weiss responded a bit distractedly as she was beginning to step forward and in front of Ruby slightly.

Blake gave her a puzzled look as to why she started acting strange until she looked over at Ciara and realized she was staring at Ruby again and Ruby was staring back with her cheeks slowly reddening. Blake had to suppress the giggles and keep a straight face as she realized what was going on. She honestly felt bad for Weiss because she probably didn't fully realize she was attracted to Ruby and was hovering and doting around Ruby unconsciously. Not that her position with Yang was much better but at least she could acknowledge it. Weiss on the other hand was irritated or so she figured it was irritation, because this Ciara girl staring at Ruby made her blood boil for whatever reason and she really didn't appreciate it or know why but she put it off as just being tired from staying up late. No matter how she rationalized it however the feeling didn't go away until eventually she decided to move in front of Ruby ever so slightly blocking their eye contact. Ciara's eyes met hers and there was clear displeasure in them at being interrupted and Weiss glared back at her in response it wasn't until Yang started marching towards the boy did Weiss actually tune back into the conversation. "Alright come on if you really are a student i'm taking you to professor Goodwitch right now."

Tobias took a step back "aw come on you guys are really gonna snitch me out for slipping in some extra practice for Ciara? What happened to the student honor code." he chuckled nervously

"I would consider it." Yang growled clearly displeased at the lack of answers and the unwillingness to cooperate " if you would explain what the hell that purple fire was and what school you came here with."

Tobias was silent as Ruby, Blake, and Weiss looked at each other and nodded confirming to each other that he was up to no good. Yang roughly grabbed his shoulder and began to pull him towards the rest of them "You too Ciara don't make me drag both of you all the way back because I will." Yang growled at her

"Let go of him or you're going to lose that arm." A cold voice rang out.

Everyone froze and looked over at Ciara who was now standing in front the tree with a large ornate scythe in her hands.

"C-Ciara remember that thing you said about being diplomatic? Yea thats not it." Tobias stuttered out clearly nervous now.

"While I am here I will have no one disrespect my summoner." she growled taking a step forward with her eyes narrowed at the girls."

Blake and Weiss shared a questioning glance before they suddenly darted to the side as Tobias was suddenly flung backwards behind the group of girls as a multitude of mechanical noises were made and the ringing of metal as suddenly all four girls had weapons facing at Ciara.

"Stand down!" the girl in red shouted at her while she impressively welded a black and red scythe easily twice her size.

"Yea lets not make this needlessly violent just come with us peacefully and no one gets hurt." the white one said while wielding a rapier with a strange multicolor base at the ready. The blake one had a katana in one hand and what looked to be an oversized sheath in the other and the yellow one seemed to have the most basic weapon of them all seeming to be gauntlets or brass knuckles almost.

Ciara glared challenging at the four girls in front of her not noticing Tobias's efforts to get her attention

"This is an order." the black one said pointing her katana "come with us peacefully or things are going to get messy."

Ciara narrowed her eyes and spoke "no one gives me orders but my summoner." as she instantly charged them

Blake's eyes widened as the point of the scythe came straight for her head in the blink of an eye only for it to be quickly deflected by Yang as she punched the side of the large weapon. Following her newfound momentum Ciara shifted her scythe to the side and spun with the punch and managed to catch Yang on the inside of the scythe and swiftly pulled her in and delivered a swift punch to her head which caused Yang to flip over the blade and land on her back in the dirt. "Ruby! She's fast keep her busy." Blake cried out as she ran over to Yang's side.

Yang groggily climbed to her feet her hair already starting to glow and tell tale embers starting to fly around her "She hits hard." rubbing her jaw. "I don't think you want to be on the receiving end of that blade or your aura might be done for."

Tobias looked at Yang with wide eyed amazement trying to comprehend how she wasnt in two pieces after not only being hooked in and punched over Ciara's blade but quickly diverted his attention back to the girl whose name he figured was Ruby fighting with Ciara. Ruby was keeping up and even outpacing Ciara in terms of speed but Ciara's sheer strength kept Ruby from landing decisive blows because of how she continued to get knocked back whenever their blades crossed. "Weiss! Freeze her!" Ruby called out

"On it!" Weiss called back and instantly three glowing glyphs appeared around Ciara as Ruby jumped up and out of the way they fired encasing the majority of Ciara's body in ice. Ciara screamed in pain and Ruby jumped back a bit started as she knew while yes being an ice block is uncomfortably cold it shouldn't be causing her pain. Weiss walked up to the now frozen girl and pointed her rapier at her face "Surrender now and this is as much trouble you will be in." Ciara glared at the girl her face still contorted in pain when her eyes suddenly flashed. Weiss felt herself flying backwards as an immense wave of heat suddenly burst out from the girl in the ice as suddenly two flaming wolves burst out of nowhere

"Oh god Weiss are you okay?!" Ruby asked frantically

"I'm fine thanks for the save but let's focus on the problem at hand Ruby." Weiss told her in a reasonable voice while trying to force down a blush at the sight of Ruby laying on top of her.

They got back up to see two flaming wolves breaking Ciara out of her icy prison she glared at Weiss in particular with a murderous rage Ruby and Weiss readied their weapons preparing to distract her as Yang and Blake were trying to sneak up behind her until suddenly the wolves she had suddenly began to charge at them. Yelping Blake and Yang had to back off dodging the wolves all the while to avoid getting burned or bitten in half. Ciara hunched over and launched herself at Ruby and Weiss with rage fueling her strikes, with Ruby having trouble defending so she flash stepped behind Ciara while she was spinning her scythe to get a clean hit on her back only to meet the second scythe on the butt of her weapon. Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the tip landing perfectly in the middle of her chest and the impact sent her flying and she landed near where Tobias was standing

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out but had to quickly deflect a blade coming straight for her neck. Weiss grimaced at the reality that this girl truly meant to deal lethal damage.

Tobias knelt down over Ruby "Oh god are you okay?!" "Where did she hit you." Tobias asked with concern in his voice.

Ruby sat up groaning "Right in my chest." "Damn that hurt, Hang on Weiss i'm coming!" she cried out placing her scythe behind her and firing to give herself and extra speed boost.

"Whoa!" Tobias cried out "that thing is a gun too?!" "also wait how did you not get wounded…" Tobias called out to nothing but rose petals. He grabbed one and looked at it until it vanished into nothingness as well. "Well dammit this is a weird world if I could manage to not get myself killed I could probably bring back some good information." he muttered before once again turning his attention to the fight.

"What the hell man how can these things chase us for so far!" Yang cried out darting behind another tree as the wolf dove past.

"I don't know but we need to double back and try to knock her out so these things will go away!" Blake shouted back jumping from tree branch to tree branch in order to avoid the wolf that was chasing her as well

"Alright let's go!" Yang shouted.

Weiss was never more grateful for Ruby's speed as she was now, the constant gunfire and her semblance increasing the velocity of her strikes made Ciara go completely on the defensive giving Weiss the chance to get in close without fear of getting her head taken off until suddenly a flash of blue appeared in Ciara's eyes so fast Weiss thought she imagined it but on her next stab Ciara sidestepped simultaneously stopping Ruby's momentum with one hand on her scythe and grabbed Myrtenaster Weiss's eyes widened and the seemingly random increase in strength as she was thrown backwards. Ruby was not so lucky however as the sudden stop in momentum sent her flying forward making her let go of Crescent Rose only for her momentum to be stopped once again by Ciara grabbing her foot. Ruby looked up at the Ciara who looked back down at her with an unreadable expression in her eyes that made Ruby shiver despite herself.

"Sorry." Ciara said with a wink she she tossed Ruby in the air and delivered a spinning kick right into her gut sending her flying into the woods.

Ruby's eyes widened at the sudden loss of air in her lungs and could do nothing but ragdoll as she slammed into a tree and collapsed in a heap on the ground her aura completely drained by that last attack

"Weiss.. No." was all she could mutter before losing consciousness.

Weiss's muscles refused to move as she could only look past the red eyes glaring hatefully to where Ruby had been sent flying. Her eyes were suddenly brought back to a single point in front of her face where Ciara had placed the tip of her scythe as she raised the blade in order to strike Weiss closed her eyes as tears built in them at all of her regrets that she had never been able to change anything and the fact she was still too weak to protect those who she cared about. Her eyes popped back open however as she heard a gun fire and she heard metal hit dirt as she look to the side and see Ciara's scythe lieing there. She looked back at the girl infront of her only to have her eyes widen as she recognize the tip of Gambol Shroud in its sickle form going through her chest. Despite a blade having run through her when Weiss met Ciara's eyes she only saw annoyance, exasperation, and shame before she collapsed on the ground.

"Weiss!" she heard Blake and Yang shout "Are you okay!?"

" Y-yeah i'm fine." Weiss said shakily as she wiped away the tears in her eyes "Where's Ruby?"

"I've got her." Yang said

" I had too." Blake said as she covered her mouth

"I'm… sorry Blake." Weiss trailed off not sure what to say to her reflecting on Blake's past and efforts for Faunus rights.

Yang looked at Blake with a regretful expression unable to figure out how to comfort her in this situation but there was a far more pressing matter that was taking her attention away from Blake.

"So.." Yang began. " I'm no expert on biology but.. Shouldn't there be blood somewhere?"

The Weiss and Blake looked back down at the body only to realize that Yang was right, there was a large hole in her chest but not a drop of blood could be found anywhere.

"It's because she's not human." A voice called out.

All three girls looked towards Tobias suddenly remembering he was there.

"What the hell do you mean by that!" Blake snarled at him with tears in her eyes. "She fought and DIED trying to protect you, and you say she isn't HUMAN because she's a FAUNUS?!" Blake started to take angry steps towards the boy before he raised his hands in a sign of peace.

"First off she's not dead." he stated in a calming voice "Look."

The girls turned towards Ciara's body and their eyes widened as it disappeared in a burst of multicolor lights that flew towards Tobias.

"You can't kill someone that's already dead." he stated flatly

The girls took a step back with haunted looks in their eyes

"W-What do you mean by that." Blake asked

Tobias looked at each of them in turn before finally speaking "Look okay let's start over, do you guys have a boss or something you said something about a professor Goodwitch right?" "Take me to her and i'll explain everything."

The girls looked at each other and nodded determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

"Oh one more thing before we leave." Tobias said "The one in red, her name is Ruby right?"

Yang clutched her sister tighter to her chest and spoke "Yeah what about her?"

"She took Ciara's scythe straight on but it did not pierce or anything how?" he asked.

"How?" Yang repeated the question "She used her aura to block it."

"Aura..?" "Interesting i'll have to find out more about this but until then let's go.

When the party finally made it back to beacon Professor Goodwitch was already standing in the main courtyard tapping her feet furiously.

"Girls I understand that night missions can be rough but" she cut off when she saw Tobias "Who is this?"

"Professor Goodwitch we need to talk to Professor Ozpin." Ruby stated earnestly

Professor Goodwitch eyed each of them before nodding "Send professor Ozpin tonight's voice and video files from your scrolls we shall meet with him shortly."


	3. Chapter 3

**OKAY. Back with chapter 3, so theres a couple things I want to address and the first one being Units have their own personality and can act on their own unless instructed otherwise by their summoner. They are their own person so they can feel emotions and pain and all that stuff a regular human would feel. Secondly I just want to thank whoever is reading for reading I try to make this as polished as possible but sometimes the little things slip past me and I dont catch it. If people have any questions feel free to pm me or leave a review or whatever as it always helps and im always looking for ways to improve. Enough authors notes however please enjoy the story! ( I own nothing)**

Chapter 3: Welcome to Beacon

As they began walking to professor Ozpin's office Tobias took this chance of silence to study the architecture around him as he looked from each tower he identified similarities and differences in relation to these and the structures of the city of Randall. The longer they walked however the more questions began to build up in his mind until he simply couldn't take it anymore "So um Blake right?" "Earlier you said Ciara was a faunus, what is a faunus exactly?"

Blake over at him and replied "A faunus is the what is essentially a human but with one extra animal attribute and more often than not some animalistic traits and personalities.

"Ah." Tobias said as he nodded to himself. "So about this Aura thing what exactly is it?"

"Well."Blake started again "it's basically a forcefield projected from our soul which protects us from harm and allows us to heal faster than normal people."

"Does everyone have an aura?" he asked

"Yes and no." Blake replied "Aura is a thing all people have because we have souls however the ability to freely use that aura only is given to people who have managed to unlock their semblance."

"Semblance?" he asked clearly wanting it to be elaborated

Blake gave him a sideways look "You really weren't kidding when you said you are not from around here." she shook her head and continued "A semblance is a sort of super power for lack of a better term that gives us an edge in battles. It's what you saw when Ruby was running around or when Weiss froze her "

Tobias smacked his fist into his open palm as he exclaimed "So it's like your extra skill! Interesting very interesting." He mulled over the new information for a moment before asking "So can you project your semblance out over others?"

"Umm no your semblance is unique to yourself but there is a way to transfer aura from one person to another although it is a little bit tiring for the person transferring their aura.

As the group finally made it to the main tower Tobias seemed to almost be bouncing off his feet as he looked at all the technology in wonder. "Oh man this world is so interesting!"

"You keep saying this world but what exactly do you mean by that?" Weiss asked inquisitively

Tobias snapped out of his examination of the lobby room and turned to Weiss "Of course i'm sorry I got a bit carried away there let's go meet your uhh what did you say headmaster?"

Weiss nodded

"Right then let's go see your headmaster so I can explain the situation." he said

They all piled into the elevator as Tobias was instantly drawn to the buttons on the panel and decided to touch a few only to have his hands be swatted away by Weiss "What is wrong with you don't just start touching stuff if you don't know what they do."

Tobias pulled away frowning "But touching it is the only way i'll find out what it does."

"No it's not you idiot you're standing next to five other people who knows what it does, just ask." Weiss snapped.

Tobias huffed but backed away from the panel "Jeez alright fine it's no wonder Ciara doesn't like you."

Weiss glared at him "And how would you know you said all of maybe ten words to her before she tried to kill us."

"She's a part of me of course I would know how she feels just as she knows how I feel." Tobias replied.

Weiss not knowing how to respond to that fell silent and simply anticipated getting answers as the elevator made its ascent to Ozpin's office but not without a few extra stops thanks to Tobias's meddling.

As they reached the top and piled into Ozpin's office they saw him watching the last few moments of Ruby being kicked into the woods and Weiss lieing on the ground. Tobias glanced to his side to see Ruby clutch her stomach and Weiss look down with a shameful expression on her face. As Ozpin realized people were now in the room he looked up and spoke "Good evening girls or should I call it morning, it is rather late."

"Ah.. good morning Professor." Ruby said stepping forward "We um as you can see brought the person we found in the forest with us."

"Yes thank you but what about the girl that was with him?" Ozpin asked.

Ruby flinched a little as she answered "um if you finish the video there's not much left on it but it will answer your question." Ozpin raised his eyebrow in a questioning fashion but turned his attention back to the screen in front of him and pressed the play button. As the video ended Ozpin's hands were folded in front of him as he pondered what he had just witnessed. Finally he looked up at Tobias and spoke "Well young man I suppose you have quite the story to tell."

Tobias stepped forward and took a deep breath "That I do. My name is Tobias Marshall and as I told your students before am not of this world. I come from a world called ElGaia where I work as a researcher, soldier, and explorer for the Arkas Summoners Hall. My job is to venture out to different locations and even different worlds in order to survey them and understand their inhabitants and habitats to deem if they are dangerous or not. As for what you say in video concerning the girl she is in my world what is known as a unit. A unit is a warrior from the past who was strong enough to leave a mark on history in someway or form and their spirit was placed into the vortex. I have the ability to call upon them and have them aid me in battles. I can also share information with my units before I summon them so they know how I feel and what I choose to let them know. They also know where I am at all times"

Ozpin raised an inquisitive eyebrow and spoke "I don't suppose you could demonstrate that for us preferably with the girl who was in the video."

Tobias closed his eyes for a second as if thinking then finally opened them "Yes I can use her she is ready to be called upon again. Abyssal Witch Ciara come to me!" Instantly a white glyph appeared near Tobias's feet as the entire room lit up in a white light. As the light faded there was a girl with blonde hair wolf ears and wearing a red blouse kneeling in front of Tobias

"Summoner please forgive my foolishness as my actions have caused you great trouble" Ciara started.

"Hang on Ciara it's fine please relax for a second I understand you were just trying to protect me and i'm thankful for that." Tobias said with his hand raised to stop anymore words from Ciara. Ciara stood up fully and turned to face Ozpin his eyes raised in part amazement and part curiosity.

"Fascinating if I do say myself what an incredible thing to have witnessed." he said with slight disbelief

Team RWBY couldn't help but gawk in amazement as they stared at Ciara's back and found no trace of injury ever being there.

"You said worlds as if there are more than one correct?" Ozpin asked

"Yes there have been confirmed that there are multiple worlds that are all connected by some strange force called the vortex but we still have not figured out how it works exactly but we do know it can be accessed through something called the gate which only certain people have the power to open. Another way to enter the vortex is if there is a weakened point between the world and the vortex and if you know where to look you can access it that way. We use the gate to travel from world to world in order to gather information about possible dangers and possible alliances."

Ozpin cleared his throat and asked " So you truly mean no harm to the inhabitants of this world?"

"Correct." Tobias replied

"And you are simply looking for information to learn more about this world?"

"Yes."

"Well, you are at a school and I suppose if you could find a way to blend in I could potentially allow you access to our educational facilities." Ozpin trailed off looking curiously at Tobias

"Really!" Tobias asked excitedly "What would be absolutely marvelous I would gladly be a student here if I could learn more about this world."

"Yes however on one condition." Ozpin said

"Yes?" Tobias asked albeit a bit cautiously

"You must compete in the tournament coming up as a representative of Beacon academy."

"Oh." Tobias said a bit defeated "Well the thing is i'm not that great of a fighter. I can summon really powerful units for long periods of time but when it comes to actual combat i'm no good."

"Hmm well can you as you call it summon more than one?"

"Yes I can summon up to five units at the same time."

"Well If you can think of some of your units as you call them who can blend into a school setting and form a four man team I will be able to add you all into the school's roster with you being their trainee under special circumstances."

Tobias's eyes lit up in excitement "So all i have to do is figure out four units who would fit into a school setting huh.. They would be pretty young but I do know of a few that might work with Ciara being one of them."

Ozpin's eyes darkened for a moment " I see your world is not free of the cruelties of war either."

Tobias gave a sad smile back in understanding "unfortunately not but they were very brave and fought till the end every last one of them." Tobias perked up in the next moment however and looked over to Blake "You said there were people in this world who have animal like traits correct?"

Blake nodded in affirmation

"Okay I know exactly who your team is going to be Ozpin. But… I have to ask these units have fought aganst some insanely strong monstrosities and things you wouldn't believe,what if someone gets seriously injured." Tobias asked worriedly

Ozpin gave a small smile and simply said "these students will grow far stronger and I do believe if they could handle her I have confidence any student will be able to handle anything that is thrown at them."

Tobias frowned at that and said "With all due respect to the team behind me and your students Ozpin but if Blake and Yang hadn't gotten lucky with their timing and caught Ciara distracted, if I wasn't there to stop her… someone would have died.

Team RWBY shivered at the thought of that

Ozpin however gave a small smile "What is battle without a little luck after all? Besides there are limitations on how low you can take down your opponent's aura in this tournament so do not worry their auras will protect them from anything lethal."

Tobias huffed but nodded in acceptance.

"Now then have you figured out a team?" Ozpin asked

"I have." Tobias said " Algor Halcyon Selena, Floral Princess Rosetta, Shadow Cat Nyami come to me!"

Instantly three more glyphs appeared bathing the room in more white light and as the light cleared three figures stood next to Tobias. The first one carried herself with an air of royalty as she stood proudly. Wearing a combat boots and a skirt with a short top covering her chest and a number of bracelets on her arms all in the color scheme of pure blue that went from Weiss's icy blue to the deepest blue of the ocean with long flowing hair. At her side she held a long sword with a blue rose pendant on its hilt the blade was a deep blue color. Next to her also with an air of royalty stood another girl with Green hair which was equally as long if not longer than the first however instead of clothes she wore white and green armor that covered her entire form but her face which had strange diamond like markings on it and a pendant hanging on her forehead. Her weapon was a fencing rapier not unlike Weiss's but the hilt was shaped like a rose with the petals jutting out like spikes on the hilt was another rose pendant she also carried a small shield which was also shaped like a flower. The last form that appeared however was far less proud and seemed to be trying to shrink into herself and hide. The last one wore short hair but in the middle an extremely long braid that had bells tied to the end of it. She wore two shoulder guards that were spiked that connected to a small chestplate with a red cloth that seemed to act at first as a scarf then could be seen going down both sides leaving her stomach exposed the cloths tucked into what seemed to be the back half of a dress and leg armor. On her head she had a large red bow not unlike Blake's but instead the bow covering ears they instead decorated bull like horns that came down to her chin instead of jutting above her head. Her weapons however were by far the strangest things about her as she had two giant cat paws that fit like gloves with long blades that followed the rest of her color scheme which was red black and gray.

"Ladies and gentleman." Tobias said with an exaggerated flourish "Please meet your new team for the tournament Ciara, Nyami, Rosetta, and Selena."

Rosetta and Selena both curtsied while Ciara simply nodded at the group of people and Nyami began to shuffle behind Ciara looking for a place to hide.

"Hmm." Ozpin hummed to himself "Would Ciara be the leader?" he asked

"Yes." Tobias confirmed "I have appointed Ciara the leader of this squad."

"Very well, since you are an unusual team I do believe an unusual team name is in order seeing your lineup Your team name shall be team CNRS."

"Sinners?" Tobias questioned until he suddenly laughed " I like it, it fits well. But one more thing professor."

Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you need me to participate in the tournament? Im sure there was another task or i just didn't participate in the first place.

Ozpin chuckled to himself before answering "Well Atlas academy has won the past two years in a row and Ironwood who is the headmaster for that school seems convinced that he has a trump card that will allow him to take this third year easily. Honestly speaking I am still slightly miffed at the fact that he brought his military with him to the school so why not upstage him in the tournament with my own little ace in the hole this year."

Tobias looked at him in bewilderment "that's… a surprisingly petty reason."

Ozpin simply shrugged and nodded " I suppose so but enough about me, you all have had a long night and it's time you get some well deserved rest before classes tomorrow, Tobias you can spend the night with team RWBY so we can get you your own room. Your uniforms for all of you will be waiting for you in the morning."

Tobias nodded his head respectfully "Thank you for your cooperation headmaster I really appreciate it."

As Tobias and team RWBY turned to leave Ozpin spoke up one last time "One more thing Tobias, unfortunately things around school are not as peaceful as they seem to be I implore you to be cautious and stay safe."

"Thank you for the warning headmaster." Tobias said with a grin "But I think my units can take on anything this world throws at us."

Ozpin smiled back "I would be shocked otherwise. Welcome to Beacon academy Tobias."

Team RWBY, Tobias and the newly formed team CNRS all stepped into the elevator and as the door closed disappeared from view.


	4. Chapter 4

**So before anything I just want to give Cryptek12 a shout out for the critique. So im trying to make it a tad be easier to read and im still cleaning it up as best as possible so as always if you find anything wrong or have any thing to say let me know. Also tell me what you guys think about how I did with Nyami like it? Hate it? I might try to put more unit interaction with the others and more units will be introduced into the story. If I was going to say something else i forgot so enough with the authors note and enjoy the story**

Chapter 4: The First Day

To say the elevator ride down was awkward was an understatement, the nine members in the enclosed space forced everyone to get uncomfortably close to each other. No one worse off however than Ruby as she was being pressed into the corner by Weiss and Ciara. As soon as they all climbed into the elevator Ciara and Weiss practically rushed to get a spot next to Ruby as they rode down.

Ruby to say the very least was extremely confused by the looks Ciara continued to give her, as for Weiss she simply put it off as worry because ever since she had woken up Weiss had been fretting over her, Not that Ruby minded in the slightest as she always thought Weiss was very beautiful and did like her, so any excuse for Weiss to get close and act nicer than normal was a welcomed change of pace from the constant flicks on the forehead and icy personality she usually carried around herself.

Ruby looked up from her cramped corner to see Ciara and Weiss in a rather intense staring contest. Ciara's face was amused while Weiss was very irritated. Just as the awkward tension was about to reach a breaking point the elevator doors opened. It look all of Ruby's willpower not to use her semblance to get out of there as fast as possible. "You are dismissed" Tobias said as Ciara, Selena, Nyami and Rosetta burst into multicolored lights and disappeared. Team RWBY visibly relaxed as they left giving them a chance to process all the information they had just acquired tonight. Yawning Tobias spoke once again "Do you mind if we speed up i'm actually pretty tired and I can only imagine you guys are as well.

They all nodded in agreement as they quickened their pace to the dorm rooms "Hey Tobias." Yang said while beckoning him to join her in the back of the group. " I have to ask because it's been bugging me ever since we met you but what's with Ciara?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well i've noticed she stares at Ruby alot and I mean like A LOT it's kinda weird."

"Oh that." he gave a small chuckle and looked to make sure the red and white duo were out of earshot

"Yea she thinks Ruby is cute."

"She WHAT!" Yang nearly shouted she looked at Tobias and spoke in a harsh whisper. "What do you mean she thinks shes cute I thought you said she was dead. How can someone who is dead think someone is cute!"

"Well for one just because they died doesn't mean they still aren't people." Tobias began "They have emotions and can feel like you and I can the only difference is that they are bound to me. Besides Ciara is different."

"Different how?" Blake who had clearly been eavesdropping asked.

"Well she and Selena are in my world what we call omni-units or dream evolutions."

"Omni?"

"Yes we rank the strength of the units from one to seven stars, seven being the strongest. An omni evo however is what could have been that person's fate. Ciara originally was raised by a witch and taught to fight against her fears and kill the grim, however in her omni state it's what would have happened if the witch had never found her and she was caught by the grim. Making her far stronger and changed her personality a little. Each omni is completely different because they regained the ability to grow as a person and gain experience. So to answer your question that's why she thinks Ruby is cute she is still a

person."

Yang didn't know what to think about this constant stream of new information, it was all just so weird but it was late so she resolved to really try to understand this crap in the morning.

They finally reached to dorm room and as they walked in there was an unspoken conversation to deal with showering and cleaning up in the morning even from Weiss as they were all exhausted and overloaded. Tobias looked around and picked a corner to throw his pack in and they all wordlessly fell asleep each going over the night from their point of view.

Tobias woke up to a rather obnoxious humming noise grumbling to himself he turned over and tried to block it out by putting his pack over his head but it was very persistent. Finally forcing himself to get up he began to walk over to whatever that god forsaken noise was only to be roughly pushed back into the corner by Yang, she glared at him "We are taking showers i'll tell you when it's your turn, if me or any of the girls catch you not looking at this wall i'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them." with a rather scary smile on her face.

"G-got it." Tobias said now fully awake. So for the better part of an hour Tobias stared into the corner not willing to test his luck until a hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped a mile, however his fears were dissipated as it was Ruby who had come to get him. "We got our first class in thirty so get ready quick and do your uhh zombie summon thing. You and your zombie friends get ready for your first day in school!"

"Zombies… what, they are…" he trailed off as he saw the playful grin, smirking back at her "Yea just gotta make sure that they won't try to eat you."

"They'd have to catch me first." she responds with a grin

"Yea I suppose so." Tobias chuckled as he stood up. "Now then let me get ready so we can go."

Twenty minutes later Tobias team RWBY and team CNRS all stood outside the dorm room. "Today's first class is combat training so this should be a great way to get to know everyone and help you guys blend right in!" Ruby exclaimed. "We don't wanna be late so let's hurry!" They started off at a brisk pace making it to class right on time. Tobias not really knowing where else to sit followed Ruby as his units followed silently behind. Tobias could feel the questioning looks from the rest of the class but choose to stay silent in hopes of avoiding attention.

As professor Goodwitch walked into the classroom she glanced up and saw Tobias and company with him "Ah yes students I almost forgot today we will be introducing some new students, Please welcome team CNRS and Tobias who is training under team CNRS they will be representing Beacon as well in the tournament so please give them the warm welcome we are known for.

"So these guys don't even have to go through the preliminaries rounds like the rest of the school did huh?" an arrogant voice sounded out. Everyone looked up to the back corner of the classroom to see a boy with orange hair with blueish eyes as he looked down at the rest of a class with a smug smirk. "Seems to me like Ozpin is playing favoritism." His last comment had an effect on the class as whispers started spreading around the classroom however professor Goodwitch was quick to put a stop to it. "If you think they aren't up to par with the rest of the school please come down and give one of them a demonstration of what it will be like in the tournament Cardin."

"Heh gladly." he said as he walked into the arena swinging a huge mace nonchalantly. He gazed over team CNRS seemingly looking for something in particular until he finally pointed at Nyami and said "How about the midget with the backwards horns, a team is only as strong as its weakest link after all.

Nyami jumped at being called out and let out a small whimper as she looked at Tobias. "Give him hell Nyami." Tobias said with a comforting Nyami got to the arena she looked back up and realized there was a crowd staring back at her and instantly she began to shake and looked like she was trying to shrink into her scarf.

She looked to be on the verge of tears until suddenly "WOOO LETS GO NYAMI!" Yang shouted. Nyami jumped and looked at Yang for a few seconds until she nodded in their direction and unsheathed her cat claws and stood in a ready position looking rather ridiculous with her weapons of choice without her armor while Cardin simply twirled his mace around in a circle smirking at her.

Having a higher view it was easy to spot the size difference between Nyami and Cardin. Cardin's mace was the size of her head and she barely reached his stomach in terms of height. Ruby looked at the rest of team CNRS and saw a look of utter indifference and uncaring of what was going on around them aside from Selena who while not paying attention to Nyami was looking around with great interest. Ruby instead opted to lean over and whisper to Tobias "Are you sure she is going to be okay? Not that I have any doubts but the odds look a little stacked."

"Cardin that coward way to go for the weakest and try to make yourself look cool." Blake hiss disgustedly.

"She'll be fine." Tobias said calmly. "Besides he couldn't have picked someone worse to fight because once Nyami gets going she's the most destructive force out of any of them. Nyami is a little ball of energy and destruction and can dish out more damage then you could imagine."

"Oh really?" Ruby asked a little excitedly as she turned back to give her full attention to the mock battle.

"This will be a one on one match between Cardin Winchester and Nyami Marshall. It will go until either party's aura is depleted, surrender, or is rendered unable to fight in any fashion.

"You gave them your last name?" Weiss asked

"Ye-" Tobias started only to be interrupted

"YES our glorious summoner has blessed us by allowing us to carry on his last name and we shall defend it to our dying breaths oh what a wonderful gift indeed he truly is a god among gods." Rosetta blurted out sending Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Ruby into a stunned silence.

"Shes um… a bit much sometimes sorry about that she gets really into it kinda like a zealot almost."

"Right…" Yang said

Yang looked like she wanted to say more but professor Goodwitch had just called the match to start as everyone looked in interest at the fight that was about to take place.

Cardin instantly blitz Nyami as he leaped into the air and slammed into the ground where she was hard enough to send debri flying across the arena. As the dust cleared Nyami was standing a few feet away from Cardin crouched over. She leaped towards him with incredible speed but Cardin was able to predict where she was going and swung his mace up in front of him. Putting one hand out in front of her Nyami caught onto the head of the weapon and flipped over him landing and instantly darting for Cardin again this time her claws made contact with his back. As the match progressed Nyami seemed to begin to play around as the fight lasted longer as giggles were heard after every dodged or missed strike Cardin threw and was met with a swift punishing blow. It was an embarrassing fight to say the least as Nyami's unparalleled speed and acrobatics punished Cardin for being slow he couldn't land a finger on her until finally Cardin gave a loud shout and slammed his mace into the ground producing a huge shockwave. The force of the shockwave sent Nyami flying into a wall dazing her for a second. As Nyami stood up Cardin grabbed her by the scarf and started to get some cheap shots in.

"Hey thats playing dirty! Yang exclaimed.

Cardin who was apparently done with getting in soft blows tossed her up and hit her like a baseball sending her flying into the other side of the arena and hit the wall. She staggered to her feet and shook her head and looked to see Cardin coming down from the sky to deal a blow that would surely finish her. The moment before Cardin landed it was dead silent save the sound of a bell ringing and then the arena went up in dust. As the dust settled it revealed the scene, Nyami was underneath Cardin with one clawed hand gripping his arm and the other pressing into his stomach. Then with a surprising strength she tossed Cardin into the air and leapt after him as he was chained into multiple dash strikes until finally she appeared above him and slammed him into the ground.

A buzzer sounded off as professor Goodwitch called out "Cardin is out by aura level the winner is Nyami of team CNRS!" The room was dead silent for a moment then suddenly burst into cheers and praise. Nyami blushed heavily and once again raised her scarf over the majority of her face as she practically ran to Tobias as she got there he patted her on the head and congratulated her. Professor Goodwitch quickly hushed the class by asking "Now then would anyone else like to test team CNRS mettle?" No one dared respond.

Nyami turned to Yang and lowered her scarf putting her arms out infront of her she spoke for the first time since they saw met in a very squeaky voice that fit her frame perfectly "N-Nyang. Hug."

Yang's eyes widened and she swore she was going to die from cuteness overload as she quickly grabbed the small girl and practically smothered her in a bear hug. She squealed "Oh my goodness you did amazing I don't think i've ever seen someone that agile who wasn't Ruby you are absolutely precious!"

Blake gazed at the pair slackjawed. When she first saw Nyami she felt annoyed because of her weapon which is absolutely ridiculous she felt like every time she looked at them it was like a slap in the face. The way her bow made it look like she had cat ears as well and then she talks like a goddamn cosplaying cat person. Blake could over look these however she had endured the racist talk people like to partake in when they think there are no faunus around. But now that she was looking at her embracing Yang, Blake couldn't help but lose control of her emotions a little she finally decided that she really didn't like Nyami.

Separating Nyami from Yang's bosom nearly made Blake lose it as she felt her eye begin to twitch. Blake took a second to make sure there was no emotion in her voice that would make anyone suspicions "Yea that was pretty good Nyami, great fight you know now that I think about it let's go introduce everyone to team JNPR i'm sure the more friends you can make her the better you can blend in right?"

Nyami wilted under Blake's gaze as she began to drag her off to a group of four people one of which was practically bouncing out of her seat. As they approached she loudly cried out "THAT. WAS. AWSOME! You totally styled on that dirt bag Cardin even though it looked like you were in trouble but that catch in the end was totally amazing!" as the girl continued to go on and on like an endless fountain the rest of the group showed up.

"Hey Nora, let us introduce everyone before you talk their ears off." Yang cut her off walking up clearing her throat "This is team JNPR with Jaune, Nora who you have just met Pyrrha and Ren.

"Hey nice to meet you all." Jaune said with a friendly smile

"Hello." Pyrrha sang

"That was some very impressive fighting it is nice to meet you." Ren said.

Selena instantly greeted everyone with a smile and shook everyone's hands while everyone else gave a more sedated greetings. Tobias finally got to the front and shook their hands with a smile "Nice to meet you all friends of Ruby I suppose?"

Pyrrha gave a chuckle. "Yes we have been through a lot together."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you all." Tobias said smiling

The rest of the class went by smoothly as there were some more mock fights and some simply note takings about strategies. When class was finally let out Team RWBY, JNPR, CNRS, and Tobias all met up just outside of the classroom.

"So how about we all go to lunch and get to know each other better!" Nora practically shouted

"That sounds great actually but when is our next class?" Tobias asked

"It's not till later in the afternoon so we have plenty of time let's go!" Ruby said.

With everyone in agreement they began their trek to the lunchroom.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5. I didnt think I would get this far to be honest but uh yea. Nothing new to say so let me know what I can improve on review all that good stuff blah blah blah. Enough authors notes please enjoy the story!**

Chapter 5: Contact Problem

This was it. Tobias's vision was fading to black and he had stopped being able to hear the voices calling his name as he was now unable to keep his head up any longer. He couldn't believe something this impossibly overwhelming existed in this world something- no someone to surpass all the demons he had faced before. "Im.. sorry." Tobias mumbled incoherently. "I can't hang on any longer." His head finally dropping on the table with a muted thud. 

After a pleasant lunch with team JNPR and getting to know them better team RWBY led Tobias and team CNRS to Professor Port's class. At first it was absolutely wonderful there were so many different types of grim and so many things to learn Tobias eagerly began to write down all the information he could see even before the professor was even in the classroom. Tobias thought this was going to be a wonderfully informative class and was very eager when the professor walked in a man who was wide in stature with a simply majestic mustache. Tobias's energy quickly left him once the man started to talk however, he began with some notes but each time he went off onto random tangents talking about his conquest concerning the various beast he had fought. Not even a half an hour into the class Tobias was already face down on the desk asleep, the ridiculously long stories not having any value to him as they quickly bored him to death. Tobias was shaken away after a few minutes by Rosetta as she said "Great summoner please you must show these inferior people what a true example of an excellent student is, you cannot sleep while class is still in session."

Tobias groggily got up and looked at Rosetta " I can hardly call this a class Rosetta this is ridiculous. You four, I want you to accompany team RWBY for the rest of the day and take notes on anything that seems interesting."

Selena nodded happily as she asked "would you mind if I got a layout of the campus summoner? I've been dieing to look at all the architecture."

"Please find something more worthy of your time great summoner we shall take care of this simple peasant work." Rosetta said.

Tobias leaned over to Weiss who was sitting closest to him and told her "i'm going to the library to do some actual research on the grim i'll meet you guys in your dorm room later."

Weiss nodded and continued to stare into space as professor Port continued to drone on and on as Tobias slipped out of the classroom unnoticed save one pair of eyes that followed him out the door.

About three hours later Tobias finally looked up from the book he was buried in with a tired smile happy with all the information he had managed to gather. He looked up at the clock and realized it was just around time for all classes to be over. 'I'll just start heading over to the dorm rooms now' he thought.

He got up from the table he had acquired and left the library. Just as he was about to turn into the dorm hall a strong force grabbed him and dragged him to a secluded part of the court. As Tobias was roughly slammed up against the wall he finally got a look at his assailant.

"Your Cardin right? Look i don't know what you want but whatever it is i'm sure we can work this out." Tobias said a bit panicked.

Cardin simply sneered back at him and responded with "What I want to know is who you are and why you are here, you and the team of social rejects."

"L-like professor Goodwitch said we transferred in."

Tobias was roughly slammed into the wall again.

"That's obvious enough but who and how much did you pay to get free access into the tournament. If you tell me this MIGHT be the end of this conversation." Cardin said with an evil leer

Tobias swallowed heavily as beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

*Team RWBY*

Ruby didn't know how Weiss didn't crash like an airship with the amount of coffee she drinks, she simply couldn't fathom it. But here they were in professor Port's class and she is sitting more or less at attention not really listening to Port's blathering but awake and alert nonetheless while the rest of them were half asleep. She supposed coffee large amounts of coffee were good for something after all she couldn't imagine drinking coffee at lunch would taste good but to each their own she supposed. As her half sleep induced trance finally wore off she looked around to realize that most people were filing out of the classroom. Ruby hurriedly stuffed her supplies into her pack and jogged over to where the rest of her teammates were standing. Looking at the she realized there they were short a person. "Where's Tobias?"

"Summoner left class early to search for information on his own as he stated in his own words, excuse of a class." Selena said "We have been instructed to accompany you for the rest of the day." Selena said to Ruby "But I myself will not be accompanying you as I was allowed to do a different task so I bid you a good day." as Selena walked off Yang turned back to the other three and asked "So what about you three?"

"Well." Ciara said as she stepped up to Ruby smirking. "I was hoping this one could show me around the school and we could find a place to do interesting things." as she cupped Ruby's chin.

"Not on your life!" Weiss nearly shrieked as she stepped in between Ciara and Ruby. "We have one more class anyway so if your job is to follow us then come on before we are late."

Ruby turned away swiftly from everyone so they wouldn't see her face as she felt the flush coming on "Yea lets go!"

Yang was bored. Not that it was anything new but at least it kept her busy to keep reminding herself of that fact. She watched zoom across the room as he continued to talk in his frantic pace. While was not nearly as boring as Professor Port it was still a history class so it was just about the same in levels of boredom. Curious as to what Tobias had instructed Nyami and the others to do she leaned over and looked at the papers Nyami and Rosetta were furiously scribbling on. She leaned a bit further over and looked at Nyami's paper curious to see what kind of notes she was taking… only she couldn't read it. It was some strange writing that made absolutely no sense to Yang it looked like strange symbols and Yang couldn't imagine what it was writing a bit confused but decided to look past it at Rosetta's, Her eyes widened as she had literally written down every single word had said and was still writing at the same intense speed. Yang looked to her other side and looked at Ciara, who wasn't doing anything aside from staring straight ahead with her ears twitching occasionally but otherwise she wasn't doing anything.

Yang stretched her muscles since they were feeling stiff as she finished she said "So Blake and I are going to go spar a little and work on some combo attacks to get ready for the tournament are you guys in?"

"Oh yea!" Ruby exclaimed "We should do that it'll be fun!"

"Not on your life Ruby." Weiss said as she grabbed her shoulder. "You are coming with me and we are going to study for test."

"A test?" Rosetta asked?

"Yea we have one next time we have his class."

"Hmm Well if that's the case I believe that we should report back to our sum-." She abruptly stopped mid sentence and went ramrod straight. In the next second all three of them took off full sprint randomly.

Yang, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss all looked at each other for a split second trying to figure out what had just happened until they broke into a sprint after them. As they rounded the corner into the dorms court yard just ahead of Nyami they could see Selena also sprinting. They suddenly veered off to an alleyway into a more secluded part of the dorm courtyard and on the far side they could see Tobias being pinned on the wall by Cardin. Team RWBY skidded to a stop as they watched team CNRS spring into action.

Selena performed the opening strike unsheathing her blade it seems to glow an ethereal blue that shimmered "HA!" she shouted as she swung her blade. The cry made Cardin look backwards for a moment only to quickly drop Tobias and jump out of the way of the blade. It bit deep into the concrete wall that Cardin had previously been standing near, however Selena bent over to reveal Nyami vaulting over her back and delivering a well placed drop kick right into Cardin's chest. As Cardin landed he tried to shuffle to the left only to have Rosetta's sword impale the cement near his head. He then tried to move back to the right only to have the same thing happen but this time it was Ciara's scythe.

Selena placed the tip of her blade directly at Cardin's jugular. Despite the situation Ruby was fully aware that, one Cardin fully deserved it and two Tobias would keep them under control so she took this chance to look closely at Selena's sword. It was beautiful no doubt, crafted by a master artisan and weaponsmith however the way her blade simmered was not natural, there wasn't much sun so it couldn't be reflecting any light it was almost like the blade had water running on it.

"Thank you guys!" Tobias walked up and frantically waved his hands to get them to back off. "It's fine Cardin got the message."Tobias gave Cardin a pointed look as he quickly scrambled to his feet and ran off around the corner and out of sight.

Selena sighed and lowered her blade which Ruby noticed had stopped shimmering.

"So." Tobias asked "How were the rest of classes?"

"Dreadfully boring summoner you were right to go find information elsewhere however we do have some things that we need to report to you." Ciara said.

"Well that's good but we can have it wait until we are back in the dorms, I actually forgot I should check in as well Tilith and the others are probably really worried."

"Cant they just come find you using the same way you got here?" Weiss asked.

"Not necessarily because for one I was sent here by mistake and two this world is actually really hard to find and with no noticeable deities or demons in the world we don't have anything except my beacon to locate where I am.

They walked back to their dorm chatting along the way however the after seeing Selena's blade shimmer strangely the weapons nerd in Ruby finally couldn't hold back anymore "Selena can I see your sword?" She blurted out. Selena looked taken back as she looked at Ruby with an incredulous expression on her face as Ruby looked back with wide puppy eyes.

"I don't think that is a good idea." She said hesitantly

"It's fine Selena, Ruby won't do anything to Lexida, i'm pretty sure she couldn't even if she tried and all she wants to do is see it." Tobias said.

Frowning but nodding Selena drew her blade again and handed it to Ruby.

"Lexida is a pretty name." She said as she eagerly grabbed it but instantly yelped and dropped it. Selena caught it with small smile on her lips "I suppose someone should have warned you to brace yourself."

She held out the blade again. Once again Ruby grabbed the blade but was much more prepared for what was going to happen. The handle and the blade were absolutely frigid and holding the sword sent weird tingles up her arm. She brought the blade closer to her face so she could inspect it better as she put it out into the sun the blade indeed did shimmer but it was nothing close as to what she had seen when it was in Selena's hand. She looked closer at the blade and saw mist emanating from it. "Why is it so cold? Did you coat it in ice dust?"

"Ice dust?" Selena asked

"Yea you know the dust that embodies the power of ice."

Selena gave her a blank look and then turned to Tobias who answered for her.

"Instead of channeling the elemental power itself in this world it comes in the form of crystals and rocks that when activated unleash the elemental power inside of them. Think of it like the water crystals back home."

"Ah." Selena said "Well that is certainly useful in some situations but I simply can't imagine not calling upon ice and water whenever I need to."

"You can call upon it at will?" Weiss asked?

"All everyone in our world took on the practice of channeling an element power to get stronger however we are only able to use one element and because of that it changes their aspect which allows them to use their element however they wish but it leaves them vulnerable to the opposite element. There are some units that can unleash multiple element attacks by focusing all their power into one move but usually most people stick with their element because it is easier." Tobias explained.

"Oh is that why Ciara screamed when Weiss froze her?" Ruby asked

"Exactly, Ciara's element if you hadn't guessed already is fire so she tends to stay away from places with a lot of water or ice, not to say she can't fight them it just gives her a slightly harder time.

Weiss eyes Ciara with interest as a plot began to form in her mind. If all of them are affected by a type of dust more effectively than I should be the best to fight against them if we do go against them in the tournament. A small smile graced her lips as she had a plan formulated that she knew would not fail if they did fight and even if they didn't if Ciara kept getting near Ruby she knew she had the advantage to keep freezing her.

As they unlocked the dorm room Tobias walked over to his pile in the corner and picked up his jacket, he reached into the front pocket only to find the entire pocket was missing, in its place was a hole courtesy of the beowolf he met when he had first got there. "Ah… I forgot about that." Tobias said sighing "I liked this jacket to." He proceeded to check the rest of his pockets and when they came up empty he tossed it to the side and grabbed his bag. Team RWBY's eyes were drawn back to the commotion coming from the corner as they saw Tobias frantically throwing stuff out of his pack, Yang had to duck as a particularly hard throw sent a red bottle flying at her. "Whoa, Tobias what's wrong man?" Yang asked tossing the bottle back near him. He stood up quickly and turned to them "It's gone."

"Whats gone?"

"My communicator. I can't contact home without it and it might take them years to find me without it."

"Well they wouldn't just give up on you would they? They would keep searching right?" Ruby asked?

"I mean yea they would atleast want some proof that I died or something but I don't have any real funds here I doubt my currency and your currency mix well if I were to have an extended stay here."

"Okay well lets calm down and think about this." Weiss said "There are only really two places you could have lost it, the court yard, or the forest."

"It could be anywhere in the forest." Yang said "It would take a good month to backtrack all the places we had to go to get Tobias back."

"Maybe not." Tobias muttered "I know someone who can help. Double Voltage Julius come to me.

A glyph appeared on the floor and the room light up, Right as the door bursted open

"HELLOOO TEAM RW-" Nora started cheerly only to cut off as she witnessed a boy appearing out of thin air.

The room was dead silent, Neither group knew what to do until Jaune cleared his throat "So uh… perhaps this was a bad time…"

Tobias stepped forward and said "You can't tell anyone what you just saw I can explain everything."

Team JNPR looked at each other and shrugged as the piled into the room and sat down on whatever was available. "I love a good story." Nora said cheerfully. So Tobias explained his situation to Team JNPR, when he finished they all looked a bit overwhelmed until Nora looked over at team RWBY and pointed an accusing finger at them "Holding back secrets from us AGAIN!" She exclaimed "We are your friends what's the point of friends if you don't tell them all the juicy mishaps you get into."

"Nora." Ren said admonished "They had to keep this secret seeing as this goes way beyond just Beacon they had good reason to keep this from people."

Nora huffed but nodded then said "Well now that we are in the know your gunna let us help right?"

"Anything we can do we will." Pyrrha also said

"Well i'll let you know if anything comes up thank you." Tobias said with a smile. "Julius you know where to look, make sure no one sees you."

"Yes summoner." Julius gave a salute and jumped out the window and disappeared from sight.

As they watched Julius disappear from view no one noticed Nora pick up one of the red bottles and discretely hide it away. Another knock on the door alerted everyone as Yang got up to look who was on the other side.

"Oh hey professor Ozpin." Yang said stepping aside to let him in.

"Hello Ms. Xiao Long, and everyone else here." Ozpin said "I've come to give Tobias his room and the scroll he can use to unlock it." He walked over and handed the scroll over to Tobias. "Your room is in the Haven sector room 229 use that scroll to unlock the door and everything is prepared for you. That was all I came here for, Students please enjoy the rest of your day." He gave a small nod and left the room.

"Well that's good." Tobias said as he began to grab is belongings that were strewn across the room. He turned to his units "Well then let's go make the place comfy shall we?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Shorter chapter than usual not that they are very long to begin with but I didnt really have much to put in this chapter so yea. Also I think i figured out my schedule its probably gunna be a chapter every five days or so. If I get too busy that might change but ill be letting you guys know as we progess. So yea Please continue to enjoy the story feedback and critisism is always welcome**

Chapter 6: Fujin Panic

"So Cinder. A new team just transferred in do you have any information on them or who they might be?"

"A new team?"

"Yea, what were they called Em? CNDR or something?"

"CNRS was the team name and then there was another boy with them but he wasn't officially apart of the team."

"A new transfer team… this late in the semester… that's suspicious but I don't think we have anything to be worried about."

Cinder pulled out a scroll and looked through the school's database

"Hmm but I don't see anything concerning any new students. At the very least I want you to investigate, find out who they are and what they are doing here."

"Will do. Maybe they have something to do with that scroll thing Neo and Roman found the other day after our briefing."

"Hmm perhaps. But until they can figure out what's on it we can only wait and find out."

"Let's see 227, 228, ah here we are 229. Okay lets see what i'm working with." Tobias opened the door to reveal a fairly spacious room with a single bed and a large desk taking up nearly the entire opposite wall which had a window so he could sit and overlook the school's courtyard.

"Hmm I wonder if that professor ever said anything of interest. Rosetta, Nyami Come to me."

As they appeared at attention Tobias pulled a notepad out of his pack

"Okay so, brief me on what I missed."

Rosetta and Nyami brought out a few pieces of paper and he decided to look at Nyami's first and saw it was written in her native language. He looked up at her and asked

"No one saw you writing this right?"

"No one but Nyang."

"I suppose that's fine then. Rosetta is yours the same?"

"No I wrote down the lecture in detail Nyami wrote the outstanding questions and facts that people seems to pick up. Also in the class after that taught by a Profes- Doctor Oobleck which was all about the history of this world."

"Hmm that might have been an interesting class to attend, no matter I trust everything is on the paper?"

"Yes."

"Good, okay anything else?"

"Yes Doctor Oobleck has a test coming up and I thought it would be good for you to gather as much information as possible then compete in it in order to see how much you've learned.

"Excellent idea. When is the test?"

"Next class session, a day from now."

"Oh boy, looks like i'll need to cram a bit."

"We shall assist you in any way possible."

"Thank you, now I should probably take inventory and see what I have left. I know i'm down one hero crystal and a fujin. But… I'm… missing a Fujin. Maybe I missed it when I left."

Tobias got up from the desk and left the room. As he was walking down the hallway he heard a voice call out.

"Hey your that Tobias kid from team CNRS right?" a girl with green hair and red eyes said.

"Yea that would be me. Nice to meet you…"

"Emerald." She said with a smile "and this is Mercury."

Mercury nodded at him with a smirk "It's nice to meet you it would be a pleasure to get to know you and your team better."

"Yea, is your dorm in the Haven section?" Emerald asked.

Tobias quickly thought of an excuse so he could go find that missing fujin.

"Yea our room is 229. But my team and I are doing some craming with some others and i'm already running late so if you would excuse me."

"Of course, Catch you later tho?" she asked hopefully.

"For sure." Tobias replied.

As Tobias walked around the corner Mercury turned to Emerald

"Man you just absolutely love meeting new people don't ya." he said smirking.

"Shut it. At least him being close makes this easier for us." Emerald said her smile instantly dropping from her face as she turned and went the opposite direction.

Tobias knocked on team RWBY's door and waited a few seconds for someone to open it. He was greeted by Weiss who simply nodded at him then walked back to the desk Ruby was currently seated in and continued to read off the textbook as Ruby wrote whatever she said.

"Hey guys have you seen a red bottle lieng around here? I'm missing one." Tobias said.

Yang sat up and looked around quickly "No I can't say that I have, what is it?"

"Well its called a Fujin potion but its kinda like an energy shot for my units that helps them instantly focus."

"What happens if a person drinks it?" Yang asked

"Well nothing really it's kind of like a sugar rush without the massive crash at the end but it just runs its course and then it's done."

Yang looked fairly curious but before she could say anything a rather loud thud from the other room drew their attention to the door.

"Didn't that come from team JNPR's room?" Tobias asked.

"Yea but I wouldn't worry about it." She said as their door suddenly burst open revealing an very panicked looking Jaune with feathers strewn all across him. Gasping for breath he managed to get out.

"Nora… Bottle… Crazy… Help."

Yang looked back at Tobias with a knowing look in her eyes. "You don't suppose…"

Sighing Tobias nodded "i'll deal with it, we just need to let her run out of energy…"

He walked into the next room to witness a war zone, Feathers were strewn about everywhere, Ren was passed out on the wall sitting underneath a head sized hole in the wall.

"Dear gods…" Tobias muttered. His next words were interrupted by the the sound of a struggle on the other side of the room.

Nora and Pyrrha were seemingly in a battle to the death with pillows however the now extra hyper Nora continued her relentless assault on Pyrrha's pillow shield until finally she broke through and slammed Pyrrha into the ground with it. After a few seconds of her lieing still on the ground with a pillow over her head a muffled "I'm sorry!" rang out.

Nora turned around quickly and both Jaune and Tobias took a step back as they saw the craze in her eyes. "More challengers for the queen?! Come at me!"

"Wait Nora calm down for a second okay?" Jaune said with his hands out taking a few cautious steps forward.

"NEVER!" Nora exclaimed as she swung the pillow once.

"Mommy." Jaune whimpered out before his head exploded in a cloud of pillows the force of the blow knocking him out the door.

Suddenly finding himself very alone Tobias slowly looked at Nora as he gulped.

"Okay.. um you win you beat all your teammates so you're the queen right? I think you need to go run a few laps."

"NO SURVIVORS." she exclaimed.

"Ah crap." he muttered as he watched a pillow get launched at his face at mach speed.

The world went black.

Tobias woke up to a throbbing headache and more shouting. Groaning he rolled over and opened his eyes to see Yang getting launched out of the window. Suddenly remembering where he was he slowly rolled over to see where Nora was. She was currently in a three versus one as Pyrrha had gotten up and jumped back into the fray and Weiss and Ruby were trying to pin her down. Blake was over at the window letting down her ribbon for Yang to climb back up. He glanced over at Ren who was starting to wake up but still out for the count.

"And I thought she was bad on a regular day!" Ruby shouted out as she had managed to climb onto Nora's back and was attempting to slow her down enough for Weiss to get her glyphs in place. However Nora was having none of that as she spun around and sent a pillow straight for Weiss's face. Thankfully Pyrrha was there to intercept the blow for Weiss however once again detonating a pillow all over the room. Tobias briefly wondered how many pillows they had left.

"THE QUEEN SHALL RETREAT!" she cried out again as she backed up and quickly jumped out the window, with Ruby still on her back.

"Hey! Wait! NORA!" Was all they could faintly hear as Ruby and Nora rounded a corner and left their sight."

Yang popped her head over the window sill and said "...please tell me Nora didn't just abduct my little sister…"

The rest of the room could only stare at the window were Nora had jumped out of until a groan brought their attention to Ren as he finally came to.

"What… was in that bottle." He asked

"Like a super energy shot." Tobias said

Ren shook his head "Ugh Nora thought it was some kind of fancy alcohol and she snuck it out of your room, she thought it belonged to Yang."

"Why does everyone think i always have alcohol…" she said.

Blake and Weiss both gave her pointed looks until she finally looked down "It was only like twice." She muttered.

"No matter!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "We gotta go save Ruby!"

"Your right." Yang agreed "Hang on sis!"

They ran down the hallway and out of the building in an effort to catch up to them.

"If I was Nora on a sugar high where would I go." Weiss asked herself outloud trying to put herself in Nora's shoes.

"Shes been doing nothing but running around like a crazy person so if I were here i would go for the Dining hall." Jaune said.

"Oh no… we have to save everyone from her!" Ren exclaimed.

They took off with a destination in mind only to round the corner and be greeted with a surprise.

A snoring Nora lying on top of Ruby. Groaning Ruby reached out "Please… she's heavier than she looks. Exasperated looks were shared all around as Jaune and Ren lifted Nora off of Ruby.

Yang looked at Tobias. "So… that answers the question of your missing fiji thingy."

"Fujin, and yea…" nodding his head "Well I have a monster headache now so i'm going back to my dorm and going to sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Yea." Everyone said

"Uhh…. So can we crash in your guy's room until we get this mess cleaned up?"

"Yes that's fine but you guys HAVE to be quiet or i'll kick you out Ruby and I are studying."

"SERIOUSLY?" Ruby cried out "After all that!?"

"Yes I will not be cheated out of my A because you got squished a little, you're a huntress in training toughen up." Weiss replied

With her tone leaving no room for arguments Ruby could only lower her head as Yang patted her on the back as they walked back to their dorm room Nora snoring the entire way.


	7. Chapter 7

**Nothing new to say really aside from merry late Christmas and happy early New Years. Reviews always welcome Enjoy the story!**

Chapter 7: Monotony

As with all schools the brief popularity one gets from being a new student eventually faded after a few days once people realized that for one the new kids were not the most sociable of people aside from Tobias and Selena and two they prefered to hang out with team RWBY and JNPR. Except for Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. Tobias didn't know what their apparent interest with them was but they were always around and always asking to hang out. Tobias was rather stressed because he had nearly been caught multiple times by these two, once they had practically barged into his room while he was talking to Julius after he had told him that his communicator was most likely taken because there were signs of people around the location of the first beowolf. With the ever present threat of them showing up unannounced has left him unable to desummon his units and it was starting to take its toll on him.

However his main problem was trying to keep track of all the lies he had to make up in order to sate their curiosity. Currently he and team CNRS were all related but not by blood, Ciara, Nyam, Rosetta, and Selena were all orphans from a small village in Mistral that his father took in and that's why they all had the same last name. Tobias was the youngest and was an aspiring hunter just like them but his father said it would be too dangerous. However they made a deal that if he could stay with Ciara Rosetta Selena and Nyami then he could train under them if the school allowed it. He even had to move four more beds into the room cramping it immensely just to make it seem like there were other people living with him. However Ruby gave him the wonderful idea of making bunk beds in order to clear up space.

Tobias was at his desk once again pouring over the notes he had gathered in preparation for test which was coming up in an hour. He was looking over the notes Nyami had given him and was translating them when the door knocking Ciara who had been lounging on the bed closest to the door went over and opened it. "Ah… Emerald what a pleasant surprise, no Mercury today?" She asked.

"No Merc is working out at the moment and I was feeling bored so I thought id drop by and see whats up."

"Ah yes well make yourself at home I suppose." Ciara said as she climbed back on her bed.

Emerald gave a small smile and said "I will."

"We don't have long however." Rosetta spoke up. "Our class will be starting soon."

Tobias discreetly covered up the notes Nyami gave him and pushed away from the desk. "So Emerald what's up, we don't have long but how have you been seeing as it's been a whole day we haven't seen each other.

She let out a small giggle "Well if you really must know i'm gathering information about our opponents so we have an easier time kicking their butts in the tournament but i've been doing it discreetly." As she said discreetly she made air quotes in the air. "Well maybe not so much now."

Chuckling "I don't know, being upfront about it if you ask me."

They were laughing when Ciara suddenly jumped down and practically tackled air. Or at least it looked like air, however the space Ciara was flying through gave a small "Oof."

Smirking she said "Boo." "I could hear you a mile away you prankster you." her ears twitched for emphasis. "Those boots aren't exactly the stealthiest things in the world.

"Ahhh ya caught me." The space spoke. It then shimmered briefly and revealed Ciara was sitting on top of Mercury. "Hmp I was gonna scare you guys good too."

"I bet you were" Ciara said while leaning in. "However i'm a bit too good for you." She said as she abruptly stood up. "We have class starting in a few and we do not want to be late." Helping Mercury to his feet she slapped his bottom and said "Better luck next time." as everyone exited the room. The respective parties waved goodbye to each other. As they rounded the corner Ciara's smile immediately dropped. "They are a bit too nosey for their own good. Mercury was going for the desk, not to scare any of us."

Tobias pondered this information. "Hmm maybe this what Ozpin was warning us about. But they could just be gathering info for the tournament but honestly I doubt it at this rate."

"Also that illusion magic, or the semblance in this world. It's very strong I couldn't see through it but it does not block sound or distort their space so we can still interact with them."

"I also did not detect the other ones presence, it's best if we figure out how it works so we aren't caught unaware again." Rosetta said.

"Right." Tobias said, he looked around and asked "Where are Selena and Nyami?"

"Nyami wanted pudding so Selena took her." Rosetta said "They will meet us in the classroom."

Tobias rolled his eyes but nodded. "Okay let's go then."

As they got to the classroom Selena and Nyami came and greeted them at the door.

"Good afternoon summoner." Selena said. While Nyami simply gave him a hug.

"Nyami you have pudding all over your face." Tobias said.

Her Eyes widened as she frantically started to look for the scraps that were left on her face.

"Excuse us." A voice called out from behind them. They turned revealing Ruby, Weiss,Yang, and Blake standing there.

Ciara nodded her head in greeting "Blake, Yang." "Ruby." She all but purred her name. As she noticed Weiss's glare she huffed "Rice."

"Excuse me!?" Weiss exclaimed.

Ciara smirked and quickly spun around "We're blocking the door. Let's move out of the way."

They walked over to their seats, Tobias noticing Ciara trying to provoke Weiss again quickly stepped in and asked "So how's everyone feeling about this test?" "I think i'll get the highest score out of everyone."

"Pfft as if!" Ruby exclaimed "Weiss is the smartest around, there's no way you can top her score when you haven't even been here that long!"

The blush Weiss sported did not go unnoticed but Tobias continued the conversation so she wouldn't get embarrassed "Well if I had this worlds currency i'd bet good money on it." He said smirking "I'll have you know I do incredibly well on test. My information gathering skills are second to none."

"Ha!" Yang laughed "Cause you let your unit guys do all the work for you!"

"Oh?" "You doubt me?"

"I have never seen you in class and there's only so much you can get from your friend's notes." Weiss said "I highly doubt it but if you do get a higher score than me i'll give you some lien so you can buy something as a souvenir." Weiss said haughtily.

"Heh and if you win i'll help you on anything you want." Tobias stuck out his hand. "Deal?"

Weiss took it. "Deal."

As they shook a green blur suddenly rushed into the room making last minute notes fly up from the front row.

"Ah! Excellent is everyone prepared for the test!" The man exclaimed. He rushed over to the door and closed it still speaking "Okay students notes backpacks and everything away it is time for a test please take out your pencils." He grabbed a stack of papers from his desk and rapidly dispensed them down the aisles. "When you get you test you may begin!"

His units looked down at the papers that were suddenly in front of them in surprise then they looked back up at Tobias, the obvious question in their eyes. Tobias shrugged "Might as well, I mean you are students after all." He pointed at Nyami "Human. I know you can right in our language and I need you to do it for this got it?"

Nyami heaved a sigh and nodded but under her breath she muttered "I want more pudding…"

"After." Tobias whispered.

"Silence there is a test in progress!" said. "You wouldn't want me to catch you cheating now would you?"

Tobias nodded in understanding and fell silent. As he looked at the first question he hesitated. "Perhaps I shouldn't have taken that bet after all." He shrugged and filled in a random bubble "Test are seventy percent knowledge and thirty percent luck anyway."

The rest of the test went by smoothly as people began to finish they simply put their papers on the doctor's desk and walked out the door. Tobias was halfway asleep sitting on one of the benches in the hallway when his units came out at the same time. They called out to him and he looked up and noticed the concerned look Selena was giving him but he waved her off. He then raised an eyebrow and said "I certainly hope you didn't just fill in random answers to get out faster."

"Of course not, we filled in what you filled in. I have utter faith you did not miss a single question." Rosetta said.

Rubbing his chin "Well we will see now won't we."

Slowly but steadily the rest of team RWBY came out, Weiss of course appearing first. Then Ruby followed closely by Blake. Yang took another ten minutes but she too finally finished.

"I asked before and i'll ask after." Tobias said. "How'd it go?"

"Child's play." was Weiss's only response.

"Not bad." Blake said with a shrug.

"Hard but studying with Weiss helped a lot!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Kinda sucked but it wasn't as bad as the first one." Yang said with a sigh.

Blake bumped Yang's hip "It would be easier if you would just study with me instead of running off and eventually getting distracted."

"I'm just not that kinda gal Blake." Yang said. "I cant stare at some paper for hours like nerd queen over there and the bookworm."

"How dare you." Weiss started but was quickly cut off by Blake.

"Well how about Ruby, she manages just fine with Weiss."

Chuckling she gave Tobias a knowing look "I'm pretty sure there's more going on behind the scene there."

Laughing Tobias nodded while Weiss and Ruby tried to question them. "What do you mean by that exactly?!"

"Yea sis what do you mean?" "She's just being the best teammate ever." Ruby said.

Before the interrogations could continue however everyone's scrolls went off.

Professor Ozpin showed up on the screen as he said "Would all students receiving this message report to the conference room."

As the screen blinked off Tobias looked up and asked "What was that all about?"

"Its our last mission and our first solo mission we get to go on before the tournament." Yang said smiling. "We are picking them today and it looks like it's our turn."

"Awww Yea! Its go time" Ruby said giving a small fist pump "Come on come on! Before all the good missions are taken!"

"Hopefully we won't have to deal with any runaway trains or terrorist this time…" Weiss muttered.

"Run away trains and terrorist…?" Tobias said.

Blake gave him a sidelong look and said "Long story." "We'll tell you later when these two aren't trying to pull off our arms."

"Right." He said as they began to walk to the conference room.

As they entered there were already a few teams trying to pick either the safest missions or the missions that looked like they would be the most fun. As they began to look through all the job choices then ran into Team JNPR.

"Helloo again." Pyrrha said.

Heyooo!" Nora greeted

Ren just nodded at them and Jaune gave a smile and waved.

"Hey guys!" Ruby said "So you guys find anything good yet?"

"Na. We were looking for something that would take us out to that village Ren wanted to see a while back." Jaune said.

"Oh let us help." Ruby said. "There's probably a good mission that we can do that we will run across."

"Thank you for the help." Ren said.

They walked around the room for a while until a voice called out "Ah Tobias, There you are." Professor Ozpin walked up to them from where he was watching the students pick their missions. "I was hoping you would show up before it got too crowded, I have a special mission I think you would be interested in. Oh team JNPR you are here as well?"

"Don't worry Professor they already know." Tobias said,

"I see." he said with a small smile. "Well you have very good judgement if I do say so myself. Anyway, I came to discuss a special mission with you and see if you were willing to do it."

"I'm all ears professor." Tobias said

"Well you see there is a place just past the mountain ranges that have always had an unusually large amount of grim for seemingly no reason. We suspect it may be a large factor in why Mountain Glen failed and I feel like you would be able to navigate this situation the best with your… talents and experience."

Tobias raised a questioning eyebrow. "Sounds interesting professor. I would be delighted to help."

Professor Ozpin nodded. "Thank you very much. However the concentration and the strength of the grim in that location is simply too high for me to send you alone in good conscious. So I would like team RWBY to accompany you as back up and if you wish team JNPR as well."

"Ohh Yea!" Ruby exclaimed "That sounds like fun!"

"Count us in!" Yang said smashing her fist together.

Blake and Weiss simply sighed but nodded determinedly.

"How about you guys?" Tobias directed his question to team JNPR.

Jaune and Ren looked at each other as Nora stared at them pleading with her eyes and they shrugged.

"Aww yea time to break some legs!" Nora said.

Chuckling to himself Ozpin pulled up his scroll and entered all the teams to the mission. "Thank you for accepting this mission Tobias, this area has been causing us trouble for who knows how long. As always be safe and good luck. You leave first thing in the morning so make sure you are all prepared it may be a long hard mission."

Nodding their heads in respect everyone said "Thank you Professor."

Nodding back at them Ozpin began to walk off.

Turning back to everyone Tobias grinned "Well I guess i'll be able to show you guys what my units are truly made of."

"I look forward for the chance." Pyrrha said.

"Well, Let's not waste any time. "Ren spoke up "You all pack and make sure your provisions are ready while I prepare a nutritious and energy filled dinner for us."

"Uhh but isn't that what the dinning hall is for?" Tobias asked.

"Absolutely not, That slop will not aid us before a mission so I shall prepare it!" Ren replied.

"Hes a really good cook." Nora said as they began to walk back "Just uh.. Don't drink the shakes okay?"

"...right…" Tobias said.

"Alrighty!" Ruby exclaimed "Team RWBY, JNPR, CNRS, and Tobias are gonna save the day once again! BANZAI!"

"BANZAI!" The collective shout rang out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Terribly sorry for the delay! multiple birthdays came up holidays ect ect left me dealing with family and i wasnt able to work on the story. SO anyway we will be back on track after this hopefully. so without further stalling please enjoy the story! Feedback always welcome.**

Chapter 8: Excursion

Tobias was looking through his pack one final time to make sure he had all of his supplies. "Ciara, checklist."

"One Fujin."

Sighing. "Check."

"Revive potions?"

"Check."

"Hero Crystal?"

"You used it."

"Spare food and water?"

"Check."

"Warm clothes?"

"Check."

"I believe that is everything."

"I think so as well, the other teams are bringing other provisions so I really only need to worry about keeping you guys going if worst comes to worst."

"You think these lowly grim will actually be able to harm us?"

"No, but the chance of you guys getting swarmed and separated are decently high as they do like to attack in relatively large groups. Not to mention you guys can't use your brave burst as often as I would like in this world, probably because it's a world that's so far away from our original one it's harder to draw energy and focus also your healing factor with heart crystals seems to have been considerably reduced, I haven't really noticed anything dropping them really."

Ciara nodded in understanding. "We will be sure to be careful. But what about them? They are just children after all."

"You aren't too much older than them." Tobias said. Ciara gave him an exasperated look. "Look, they took this mission and follow this way of life because they choose to. I believe they have the skills to back it up this ambition. They managed to kill you after all."

Ciara frowned."Even so it's as you said, they got lucky."

Chuckling Tobias said. "True enough, but this time we will be fighting on the same team so I wouldn't worry about it. Although I am curious as to why Professor Ozpin said I would be the best for this type of mission but then force me to have so much backup."

"He said the area had a large population of the grim monsters." Selena spoke up from the corner she was in folding the rest of the clothes into the pack. "Well having someone who can practically call upon an army from their mind is immensely easier on resources then having a large group of experienced hunters come together and work together to clear out a single area. The students while yes are there for backup will also gain a lot of experience from a real battle."

"Fair point I suppose." He said. Selena walked over. "I do believe we are ready summoner."

Tobias nodded. "Nyami! You finish hiding our notes?"

Nyami's head popped out of the ventilation shaft. "Yes!"

"Okay thank you for that, it's time to leave, we have a flight to catch."

Red eyes watched as the group of five exited their room and locked the door, leaning against the wall she took note of the large packs Tobias and Selena were carrying. "A mission huh?" Emerald muttered to herself. "How convenient." She watched them walk around the corner until Ciara suddenly stopped and turned around. Red met red and Emerald swore she was staring directly at her until Ciara looked further down the hallway and shook her head. Turning she walked briskly off to catch up with her teammates. Letting out a breath she hadn't even been aware she was holding she raised her scroll and sent a message off.

"They are starting to become a problem." Ciara said as she walked up to Tobias's side.

"Were they there again?" Tobias asked.

I'm not sure. I thought I heard something but it might have been from farther down the hallway but i'm not sure, it's impossible to distinguish any smells in the hallway as well." Ciara said.

"Well, it's time to make sure we start gathering information on them before they get too much on us. I'll have Melina look into it when we get back."

"Ha! Just remember to remind her not to kill anyone unlike last time." Ciara said

Selena scoffed "The Barurians were always a violent sort of people. Are you sure you can trust her for this?"

"Hey, that whole fiasco was my fault. Melina is very efficient at what she does be it killing or information gathering." Tobias said.

Selena and Ciara simply rolled their eyes as Nyami giggled to herself and Rosetta sighed.

Standing outside of team RWBY and JNPR's room Tobias knocked on one while Rosetta knocked on the other. As the doors opened it revealed both teams with large packs on their backs. "So I take it we are all ready?"

"For sure!" Ruby said.

"You know it." Jaune said.

"Alright good. Let's get going our ship leaves in ten minutes."

Everyone nodded as the set out.

"Summoner." Ciara called out.

"Yea? Whats up?"

"Give me your pack."

"What? Why?"

"You've drained yourself, Give me the pack and once we get on the ship you need to desummon us and get some serious rest before the mission starts."

Tobias started to argue but was quickly silenced by the combined stares of all four of them. "All right all right." He said as he handed his pack over to Ciara.

"So how long until we reach the destination?" Tobias asked.

"Well if it's a little farther than Mountain Glen i'd say half a day at the least. But that's only if we don't get bothered by any airborne grim." Weiss said.

"Okay. So once we get there we should find a base camp pretty fast. That area is filled with caves right?"

Weiss nodded.

"We can probably find a nice cave to hold out in while we complete the mission.

"It would be best if we had a cave we could make sure was sealed off so nothing can get behind us." Ren added in.

"It is best for a defensible position." Pyrrha agreed.

"Yea but we would need someone to get out if things got to bad. "Jaune added "So maybe we find one with a back exit but seal it so only we can get through if we need to."

"Well i'm sure there are plenty of caves that fit the bill for that." Tobias said "And if there aren't we just make one."

"So we already have a plan for a base camp. I don't know about you guys but I think this is already going way better than our mission with ." Ruby said with a large smile.

"Don't jinx it now!" Nora said "We gotta counteract the jinx quick! Think the worst things that could happen, Ren loses a hand so he can't cook pancakes or anything!" She paused. "Oh god. No more pancakes?! This can't be happening! Ren we gotta do something, get you a mechanical hand, something! For the pancakes Ren!"

Ren put his hands on Nora's shoulders. "Nora calm down, see both my hands are still here."

"Oh thank goodness." Nora said with relief.

The rest of the group simply gave them curious stares as they continued to walk.

Reaching the airfield the saw that even though they had an early flight they were in fact not the first team leaving. "Hey its team CFVY!" Yang said "Let's go wish em luck on their mission."

Coco noticed them walking over and gave a low whistle. "Dam I don't know what kind of mission Ozpin threw at you guys but it looks pretty damn intense if he is using three teams… speakin of which you're that new team that just transferred in right?"

"Yea that would be us." Tobias said.

"Well, we have heard an awful lot about you guys so we will be rootin for you during the tournament, but if we end up going head to head prepare to get creamed." She said as she lowered her glasses to look everyone in the eyes.

"We look forward to the challenge." Selena said

Coco was about to say something else when an incredibly large man walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh Yatus, is our ship here?"

He nodded and Coco turned around "Welp it's time for us to get out of here, good luck on your mission guys i'm sure you guys can handle it, just make sure you don't blow anymore holes in the city we might not be there for clean up crew next time." She gave everyone a wink and walked off leaving team RWBY scratching the back of their necks sheepishly. Tobias looked at them but decided not to say anything as he reminisced on when he destroyed some rather important structures.

He was shaken out of his thought by the sound of the airship landing.

"Okay everyone!" Ruby said "Who's ready for this mission!"

Everyone gave some form of cheer as they all piled into the airship. As the doors closed and they began lift off the ground Tobias gave a look around and they seemed to be in a large cargo area, thankfully for Tobias there were no windows so the whoever was piloting couldn't see them but after a brief static a voice came from over speakers "this is your pilot here we are going to be dropping you off about five kilometers from your mission objective point so you don't get swarmed as soon as you get off the airship but it's still a rather lively area so be prepared for a fight. I'll get you there in about eight hours so you relax, sit back and make sure you're ready." The speakers cut off

Tobias sat down heavily letting out a huge sigh. "Dismissed."

Instantly Ciara, Nyami, Rosetta, and Selena burst into multicolored lights and vanished.

Nora let out numerous Oohhs and Ahhhs as the lights slowly faded away.

"Im taking a nap, wake me up when we get there." Tobias said as he closed his eyes he could feel how truly exhausted he really was.

They kept to their word and woke Tobias up, however it wasn't really the way he was expecting. The sound of multiple guns going off woke up Tobias with a start. He lurched up in panic he stumbled over to Jaune who was leaning out the side of the ship pointing at what looked like an eagle and a lion flying all around.

"Whats going on!?" Tobias asked

"More grim than expected even this far out we can't land with all the grim on the ground and the griffons are starting to do a number on the ship."

As if on queue the ship suddenly veered off to the side and Tobias fell flat on his butt. He looked around and saw the rest of the teams firing round after round into the grim horde on the ground in an effort to clear them out. "So all we have to do is clear the area?" He asked now fully awake.

"Yea so we can unload the gear, some of it can't survive falling from this height."

"Okay, Consider the area cleared then. Abyssal Witch Ciara, Shadow Cat Nyami, Floral Princess Rosetta, Algor Halcyon Selena Come to me!" Tobias shouted.

A flash of light appeared in the hanger making everyone shooting falter for a second to look back. When they did however they saw Tobias's units in their full glory.

Ciara was hovering off the ground slightly her eyes blazing fiercely as the two wolves circled her snarling at everything, a tangible aura of evil was being projected from her. Her hand held her spirit flame which was burning a brilliant blue as she grinned in excitement. "I take it this means there's no one around that we need to care about?"

Nyami had no noticeable differences aside from the fact that she now had much much larger claws than before and was vibrating with a hidden energy as well as shadows seemed to bend towards her which made her slightly harder to see. "Nyami is ready!"

Rosetta had the most gentle of displays out of all of them as there were pink petals floating all around her seemingly appearing out of nowhere but her sword had some strange energy surrounding it which looked like thorned vines that protruded out around her."For my all powerful summoner, None shall stop me!"

Selena had frozen the ground where she was standing, the frosty aura she emanating dropped the temperature in the ship incredibly fast as ice started to form around her in a beautiful formation almost like a wave frozen while it was cresting her sword was shimmering brightly and seemed to be reflecting off the ice she had made while standing there. "A new adventure, a new fight! Please point me in the right direction summoner."

Tobias pointed outside of the ship "Clear out the landing zone, there's an unknown number of enemies out there so go nuts."

They nodded in unison. "On me!" Ciara said as she ran for the exit as she jumped out she cried "Howl Of Terror!" as flames begin to envelop the area the rest jumped out after her

"Divine Dance: Sage's Demise!" Rosetta shouted.

"Crysta Laviena!" Selena shouted.

"Zoom Zoom!" Nyami shouted as the ground below the ship exploded in ice fire and a multiple of indescribable colors.


	9. Chapter 9

**Im a day late...kinda its early here so whatever but yea. anyway tell me how i did as always reviews are very welcome. Please enjoy the story**

Chapter 9: Worlds Clashing

When Ozpin had told Ruby fighting was like dancing she hadn't really understood what he meant exactly, she just simply couldn't fathom them being related. Until now however, as she looked down at the four fighting together she could only describe it as a work of art. After the explosions had faded away she watched them practically dance in between the horde and each other. Although she couldn't find Nyami she had a good idea where she was based on whenever a beowolf managed to sneak around behind them it would instantly drop dead with telltale claw marks visible even from up here. She focused on the three she could see and was amazed at the sheer level of trust they had in one another, whether if was the fact that the simply didn't care if they hit each other or they knew they wouldn't Ruby didn't know. More times than she could count however each of their respective weapons came insanely close to each other as they cut down the horde. A minute later Nyami appeared out of nowhere bouncing off the rocks and quickly dashing through the creeps and beowolves. Selena's strikes were graceful, the way she fought was almost like a tidal wave as she kept up the pressure on her foes cleaving and freezing anyone who stood in her way. Ciara was much more brutal but still amazing to watch as her scythe flew around with brutal precision her twin wolves diving into the horde and catching whatever unlucky grimm got caught in their fangs, occasionally she would throw her scythe and it would seem to have a mind of its own as it flew around cutting her foes down as she blasted the area with her spirit fire. A couple of fireballs missing her allies by mere inches. Ruby thought to herself if she had ever tried to pull off this kind of danger close fighting no doubt someone would have lost some kind of appendage. She turned her attention to Rosetta who was acting like a vanguard of sorts, using her shield to open the guard of anything that tried to attack her or her teammates. She bounced them off her shield and immediately punished them with rapid stabs to vital areas quickly downing many foes. While Rosetta and Selena were taking on a particularly large ursa Ruby had noticed that their blades crossed while attacking it causing a lot of bright lights to flash up almost like sparks. "Hey Tobias why do they keep touching blades when they are attacking?"

Tobias looked up from the carnage beneath them "They are sparking, it's an ability they have when they attack something at the exact same time it boost their damage against it."

"Ohh thats so cool! Do you think we could do that?" she asked excitedly.

Tobias shrugged "I dunno, but there's only one way to find out."

"Oh man I wanna try it right now, Weiss!"

"No. this isn't the place to try new things Ruby you will end up cutting a finger off or something." Weiss said quick to curb the girl's eagerness to try something stupid in the field.

After a few more minutes the last or the horde was clearly visible and Rosetta started to walk towards them while the other three began to walk back and flag down the ship.

"What are they doing? She cant take on the rest of that horde as skilled as she may be." Pyrrha said frowning.

Staring intensely for a moment Tobias muttered to himself. "Jeez it really does take a long time for them to recharge… she's not even fully focused.

Everyone gave Tobias an odd look but turned their attention to Rosetta as she took a stance just barely in front of the remaining horde. As the first creep reached her she slashed out in a wide arc petals spraying out into existence everywhere and lunged forwards, the petals that were currently floating in the air shot towards the opposing grimm and ripped through them like bullets, effectively eviscerating the remaining grim.

With the area effectively cleared the pilot finally managed to touchdown on the ground and kept watch while their gear was being unloaded. A few minutes later everyone was off the ship and ready to move out. Ren looked at his scroll for a moment "We need to get moving or else we might get caught out here in the dark. So let's quickly find some place to set up camp. Everyone nodded in agreement and began to walk up the path, the sound of the airship fading into the distance as it flew off. Ruby sped up her walk to catch up to Tobias she caught a glimpse of Ciara's arm. A moderately sized gash was running down the length of her arm. She let out a small gasp, Ciara's ear twitched and looked over at her, following her gaze she looked at her arm "Oh, lucky shot." She said while she stuck her tongue out at her "Can you kiss it better?" Ruby immediately went bright red and sped up again as Ciara laughed at her. She caught up to Tobias and after a few seconds finally asked "So why do you think Ozpin wanted you to go on this mission?"

Tobias looked over at her "I was actually talking to Ciara and the others about it before we left, we figured its because I have the call upon assistance at will which is infinitely easier than summoning an army to clear out this area."

Ruby nodded "I guess that does make sense, but why did he want all of us out here as well?"

Tobias shrugged "you got me there, I guess field experience if anything i'm not really sure. But you guys do make excellent back up so i am rather glad you are here. My units can do a lot but in this world they are fairly crippled from not being able to use their full abilities."

Ruby shuddered as she clutched her stomach, imaging Ciara at full strength was a rather horrifying thought indeed, or any of them actually if they display this much skill and strength and are still being held back. "What… what do you mean but their full abilities?"

"Well, most fighters from my world have perfected an art called "Brave Burst" were basically we can amplify our attacks and give us various buffs which make us stronger or help us protect our allies better. But here the energy we gather to generate the focus for those attacks is very limited so it takes some time.

"Oh… well can you do that?"

Tobias grimaced. "Well...yes but mine isn't particularly strong."

"Does it make all those pretty explosions like them?!" Nora cut in as she skipped over.

"I mean..yea. But enough about me! Let's keep walking." he said as he sped up.

Ruby was about to catch up to her again when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Ciara had grabbed Nora and Her before she spoke in a hushed voice. "The summoner's strengths are not all that… impressive, at least not yet he is always trying to better himself so he isn't such a burden. But he's a great tactician and incredibly smart. He honestly doesn't give himself enough credit."

"I see…" Ruby said, suddenly remembering she glanced over. "Hows uh… How's your arm?"

"Hmm? It's fine." She showed her arm the Ruby and there wasn't a mark or blemish anywhere in sight.

"What?! How, that cut was huge!" Ruby exclaimed.

Ciara jerked her thumb over and pointed at Selena. "Her brave burst give regenerative properties, however they seem to work slower here."

"Wow…" Ruby said.

With nothing more to say they continued to walk onward with the occasional small talk from Yang, Nora, and Ruby. Following Tobias they walked into a decently sized clearing. Looking around Tobias said "Well this is as good a place as any to set up camp and i'm not really in the mood for a night hike. Everyone nodded in agreement and just as they started to unpack Selena called out "Stop!"

"Whats wrong?" Blake asked looking around suspiciously.

Selena jogged over to Tobias and in a hushed whisper "I sense a demonic presence."

It took all Tobias had not to yell out in shock. As the rest of his units came over he whispered "Are you sure?!" They nodded their faces deadly serious "Okay well we can't get into a fight with that thing with them here, we don't know what it's capable of."

A strong hand landed on his shoulder "Hey do you wanna tell me what all the panic is about?"

"Oh its nothing Selena thought she saw a large grimm running around. I'm about to have her go scout the area and make sure its clear." Tobias said

Yang narrowed her eyes clearly not believing that was all to his story but accepting it.

"You four split up and make sure the area is clear… we will have to deal with this later." Tobias turned around and told everyone else "take a pause on the unpacking until we know it's clear for sure okay?"

The suspicious looks he got from Yang and Blake made him cough nervously and he quickly turned around to watch Selena walk near the cliff face.

There was a loud rumble and Tobias felt his stomach drop in dread. Another rumble and a very strong tremor had everyone lose their footing "What is going on?!" Weiss yelled. Right as Tobias turned to answer her the cliff face exploded outward spraying boulders everywhere.

"Duck!" Jaune and Pyrrha yelled as everyone scattered for cover. A loud roar that shook the air brought everyone's attention to the dust cloud. As the dust cleared they saw what they were up against and to team RWBY and JNPR it was horrifying, larger than any grimm they had ever seen far larger than a goliath or nevermore. It looked like an extremely large lizard. It had black and white scales with red thorns protruding out around its neck and spines running down the length of its back. As the dust fully settled its tail slithered around to lay at its side, long and extremely muscular it had a mace like bulb at the tip surrounded in spikes. As blazing green eyes glared down at them it let out a powerful roar once more before it noticed Selena struggling underneath one of the rocks, It began a slow crawl towards her obviously aware that she was unable to do anything and was simply gloating or preparing to savor the kill.

"Hey! We gotta help her!" Ruby cried out her Crescent Rose already in full bloom.

"What are you insane?! We don't know what that thing IS." Weiss cried out.

"Yea Ruby don't be an idiot, she's not dead yet but we can distract it so just sit tight until we figure something out." Yang cried out.

Blake looked at the creature approaching Selena then looked over at Tobias who was yelling at Nyami Rosetta and Ciara who were running back full sprint. She ran over to him and said "What IS that thing!"

Tobias looked back panic clear in his eyes. "Thats a demon, and you guys need to leave, NOW!"

"What about you?" Blake said "What the hell is a demon?!"

"A demon is an incredibly strong monster from MY world, and from the looks of it that thing is ancient and incredibly strong, so it has been here dormant for a very very long time. And we just walked into its bed. Now get out of here i'll deal with it!"

Blake looked ready to argue until a cry of pain brought their attention to Selena. The beast had pushed the boulder off of her but impaled her waist with one of its claws, effectively trapping her.

Ruby stood up "Leave her alone!" she cried out as she began to run towards it.

Tobias saw her and yelled. "Ruby NO! Someone stop her!

Yang made a desperate lunge for Ruby's legs but all she grabbed were rose petals as Ruby activated her semblance.

"Ruby what are you doing!" Weiss cried out. But it was no use Ruby was already in the air in front of the demon.

"I said let go of her!" she yelled one more time as she began to spin like a top falling towards the creature's head "Yahhh!" She cried as she struck the creature between the eyes, only to bounce right off the hard scales. Having her momentum thrown back at her she lost control and landed in front of it with an oof. The demon looked down at her distracted as it pulled its claw out of Selena. Saliva dropped down from its mouth and when it hit the ground it sizzled and steam went up into the air. Ruby couldn't move she could only stare into the beast eyes as its throat began to rumble again. Right before it opened its mouth a wave of blue fire came crashing into it making it rear its head back in surprise.

Ciara, Rosetta, and Nyami slid to a stop in front of Ruby protectively weapons ready as Selena was staggering to her feet it shook off the last of the fire and stared back down and the new annoyances in front of it. It growled once more however this time there was a faint light in its throat. "Shit move it!" Ciara yelled but before it could do anything it roared at them again sending everyone flying back.

Tobias turned to the rest of the group. "Split up and shoot at it! We need to distract it and get Ruby out of there."

"What about Selena?" Pyrrha asked.

Tobias turned to her incredulously. "What about her? We need to get Ruby out of there now. Go! Start shooting it!"

Pyrrha looked like she wanted to argue the point further but nodded and began to open fire on the demon.

As the demon turned to look at its new targets Ciara staggered to her feet and picked up Ruby. "Sorry bout this." she said as she gave a quick turn and threw Ruby with all her might.

"Yang heads up!" Ciara called and Yang turned her head to see Ruby hurtling limply towards her. Eyes wide she caught her with hardly any problem before running to where they had left their supplies. Tobias met them over there and looked Ruby over with a worried eye.

Ruby's eyes fluttered open and Yang have a sigh of relief "Thank god you're alright Ruby, I was so worried how could you do that!"

Ruby turned her head slowly to Yang and opened her mouth like she was talking but no words came out. Her eyes widened a little as she tried again and she began to look around panicked before she suddenly heaved and collapsed.

"Ruby? Ruby!? RUBY!" Yang cried.

"That's not good." Tobias said.

"WHAT? What isn't good." Yang yelled at him.

"She's been cursed… and poisoned from the looks of it." He said as Ruby went through another silent coughing fit. He looked over at his units who were currently trying to keep the thing back for a moment and turned back. "This really isn't good… she's really sick."

Weiss alighted next to them "How is she?!"

"Shes dieing." Tobias said flatly.

"Wha-" Weiss said as she looked down at Ruby who had passed out again silently coughing occasionally.

" No no..nono. This can't be happening. How do we help her?!"

Tobias looked up at her. "You buy me some time, those three cannot fight that thing so im going to desummon them and summon a better squad to fight it. But i'll need you guys to distract it for a second.

Weiss hesitantly began to walk away but before she left she put her hand on Yang's shoulder.

"I'm not leaving her. Not until i know she's safe." Yang said her voice and form trembling with emotion.

Weiss pulled her hand back but nodded and quickly darted off using her glyphs.

"Okay, here we go." Tobias said as he stared at the beast currently knocking around Rosetta.

Right as it went in for the final strike against Rosetta she suddenly burst into multicolored lights as did the rest of the units. Looking around in confusion for a moment it gave a loud roar again and charged off in the direction of the gunfire. Tobias looked on with worry as it charged off towards the group. "I need...a status cleanser, elemental damage, mitigator, attack buffer, and… nuker." Tobias shut his eyes in concentration as Yang stared at him like he was speaking gibberish. She then saw five Glyphs that reminded her of Weiss's but were far more intricate. A bright light flashed and Tobias called out. "Come to me! Torrential Scar Holia, Torturous Grief Zelha, Glorious Hero Krantz, Supreme Thunder Pamela and Eternal Radiance Rize!


	10. Chapter 10

**I couldnt think of a title for the chapter. Its a little bit longer than usual so yay?. Let me know how I did reviews more than welcome if anyone has questions dont hesitate to ask. Please enjoy the story**

Chapter 10: Raid Battle

The woman who appeared first had long blond hair, red eyes with glasses, and was dressed in white and blue, two large spikes adorned the sides of her legs acting as a connecting piece between her skirt and the rest of her shirt. Her skirt was constantly flowing water seemingly from nowhere. She had an intricate crown on her head that was adorned with three large spikes of a strange crystal. Her weapon was a large guando made of the same crystal like substance her crown was but in the middle of the weapon there were three capsules with prongs that held a glowing substance inside them. Floating over them she looked at the situation Tobias was in with a slightly amused look in her face with one eyebrow raised.

The next woman who appeared was another blond with red eyes but this time had long red horns that pointed upwards and connected a small crown. She was practically wearing nothing a rather large portion of her chest and stomach were showing but the parts that were clothed was intricately designed black and gold armor with a red skirt. In one hand she held a menacing black sword that was nearly as tall as her that glowed purple in the middle. In the other hand she held three flaming skulls with horns similar to her own. The most eye catching part of her however were the innumerable amount of glowing swords behind her. Her eyes flickered from Tobias to Ruby to the giant grimm demon rampaging in the clearing with slight interest but said nothing.

The next form that appeared was a very large man with red hair and kind hazel eyes. He was wearing white gold and blue armor and had a long cape, in one hand he held a glowing broadsword while his other hand had intricate glyphs glowing around it. As he took in the surroundings he looked at the others fighting the demon his grip tightened on his sword as he glared at the beast.

The next woman to appear came with sparks of blue electricity arcing around her, intense green eyes with pink and white hair she sported purple armor and had some torn leggings. Her weapon was a giant whip blade that was curled around her feet. Eyeing the situation at hand she readied her weapons and looked at Tobias, waiting for orders.

The last unit to appear was another blond but nearly as tall as the man who appeared. She had golden horns and red eyes like the first two. She wore a short purple dress and in one hand had a golden cane while in the other a huge two sided spear. Much like the woman before her the air around her was constantly sparking as if it was supercharged with electricity, and storm clouds seemed to flow around her. She looked at the demon and gave an exasperated sigh then looked at Tobias, a question in her eyes.

"You four, go deal with that demon. Holia, come here." Tobias ordered.

The four in question instantly ran off to the clearing, the demon still chasing the teams around as they pelted it with bullets.

"Krantz, tell them to back off until we have its full attention!" Pamela said.

Krantz nodded in agreement as he ran in their direction. The demon was apparently tired of playing chase and suddenly gave a swift spin and launched a spike off of its tail. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she saw the giant red spike flying directly for her, there was no time to dodge as she watched it soar through the air in slow motion. Faintly she heard Jaune's voice call out to her but she couldn't do anything but watch the spike spiral towards her. She closed her eyes and held up her shield in hopes that she could deflect some of the damage and braced for impact.

"HA!" a voice cried out and the sound of metal clashing on rock rang out. Pyrrha's eyes opened to see the spike that was originally flying for her flying up into the air harmlessly. The knight in glowing white armor landed and raised his sword in preparation for another attack. "Are you alright?" he asked concern clear in his voice.

"Yes I am fine, thank you for the help." she replied as Jaune, Ren, and Nora all ran over asking if she was fine.

I need you guys to wait until we have its full attention." The knight spoke again. "Once its focused on us you need to come in with quick strikes, do not stop moving, go in hit it and get out okay?'

"You can count on us!" Pyrrha said.

"Good, tell the rest of your friends as well." he began to run towards the monster. "Zelha now!"

Zelha nodded and unleashed a brilliant barrage of light swords that pelted the monster thoroughly, causing the monster to roar in pain. It turned to them the last attack obviously angering it and now giving the three in front of it its full attention.

"Oh my." Holia said as she walked forwards. "Well she doesn't look to good now does she?"

Tobias simply sighed as he dug through his pack, pulling out another red bottle he wordlessly tossed it over to her. "Just hurry and help her before she dies."

"My my summoner, are you feeling a little grumpy?" She said with an amused smile on her face.

"Just shut up and help my sister." Yang snarled her eyes flashing red.

Holia turned to look at Yang and red met red. Her eyebrows raised as she covered her mouth daintily "Oh my! Temper temper girl, you know I could fix hotheadedness of yours."

Yang looked ready to punch her but Tobias quickly interrupted. "Holia...just heal her." he said sighing.

"Fine fine." She said as she drank the potion, a quick burst of golden energy permeated the air around her before she looked back down at Ruby as she began to cough again, this time some blood coming up.

"As you wish, stand back." she said as she raised her guando over Ruby. Yang shifted anxiously "uh why do you need your weapon to heal her?"

Holia simply raised an eyebrow at her before looking down at Ruby "Flux Irrigation."

Her weapon started to glow a bright blue before the cylinders in the middle started to shine and swirl and then suddenly the prongs they were connected to shot down into Ruby, causing her to open her eyes and cry out in silent pain.

"Hey! What are you doing to her!" Yang stood up and tried to grab Holia's weapon. Tobias quickly grabbed her. "Stop! Shes healing her." he said quickly

"SHES STABBING HER!"

Just as she said that a flash of light blinded Tobias and Yang, as they rubbed their eyes they could hear gasping. Ruby was sitting up straight breathing wildly while Holia stood off to the side with a smug expression.

"Oh my gosh Ruby are you okay?!" Yang spoke quickly, looking all over her body for wounds.

"I… I feel great!" She looked around excitedly and looked at Holia, she jumped up and took her hand. "That's so amazing! Thank you so much I feel so amazing right now it's like I just woke up completely energized."

Holia pushed her back. "Ah.. yes a tad too hyper for my taste. If you'll excuse me I believe I am needed on the battlefield. Yang, Ruby, and Tobias watched as she ran off to help the everyone else when Yang looked back at Ruby. "Well, you said you were feeling great so can you fight?"

"Well… almost it seems my aura is gone, so i'll stay back here and cover you with Crescent Rose."

Yang sighed in relief, all the tension she had built up releasing itself as she realized she was going to be alright.

"Alright now let's finish this thing off." Tobias said. "Yang you gotta wait for my units to make openings in its defenses then hit it hard."

Ember Cecilia sprung to life as she clashed her knuckles together. "Got it." As Yang sprinted over to where Weiss and Blake were Ruby deployed Crescent Rose into its sniper form and started to take shots at the giant beast attempting to shoot its eyes.

"Pollux's Majestica!"

"Swallows Heavenly Decree!" a blinding white light enveloped the head of the beast while blue lightning arched around its side causing it to stagger slightly and swing its tail, catching Krantz and sending him sliding across the field. He staggered to her fight as Weiss landed near him. "Are you okay?" she asked as she sent another volley of dust off.

He glanced back at her "Yes perfectly fine." The glyph in his hand expanded to twice its size as he began to run back towards it. Weiss's eyes widened as he leapt up into the air and placed it in front of him. As he slashed through it his blade light up a brilliant white and he continued his slash until it hit the hide of the monster, the blade biting deep into its flesh. It let out a tremendous roar in pain and shook Krantz off sending him flying once more. Once more it let loose a volley of spikes and sent them towards Krantz. As he deflected the first one it grazed his shoulder causing him to lose his sword, the second spine flying swiftly towards him. He raised his hands to block whatever he could when it was knocked aside by Holia as she jumped in the way of Krantz. "Holia watchout!" Krantz cried out as the last two spines pierced her chest. Staggering forward a few steps she dropped her weapon and looked up at Krantz. "Be a dear and help me get these out?"

Krantz shook his head. "That was a risky gamble you took, but thanks." he got behind her and tugged at the first spine.

She gave a short pained laugh as the spine was getting pulled out "Im a support, it's what I do.

As Krantz pulled the other spine out he spoke "Sit back until Rize uses hers, it should be ready soon."

"I don't know I feel like pushing my luck a little bit." She replied.

Krantz picked up his sword and rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say." and he back into the fight.

"Light of Chaos!" Zelha cried as a hellstorm of swords converged on the beast piercing its skin in multiple sides. "Now's your chance, go!"

"Lightning Star's Roar!" More lightning arched around the beast as it let out a pained roar once more. Swiping its claw it caught Palmela and gave large lacerations the front of her body. She staggered to her feet. "We need to end this soon, i'm running low here."

"Fairtorak Familia." A brilliant golden lighting bolt arched up and down the beast's body as it finally seemed to stop moving, Rize who had managed to get under the beast stabbed upwards with her spear and discharged another powerful current into its body. Its legs began to shake and she dove out from under it before it collapsed on the ground.

After a few minutes of the beast not moving the rest of team RWBY and team JNPR came out of their firing positions and walked over to the fallen creature. "Is it...dead?" Weiss asked.

"Not sure… stay back however just in case." Krantz said as they walked forward to go investigate. When they got to the mouth of the face "I don't hear any breathing…" Pamela said

"Well… despite everything that was rather boring." Zelha said obviously disappointed.

"Is there still nothing strong enough to fight me…?" Rize said shaking her head and walking away.

"Heh… they weren't the ones blocking them from danger am I right Krantz?" Holia said.

Krantz however was squinting at the demon suspiciously, he finally noticed a glowing light in its throat and his eyes widened. "It was holding its breath watch out!"

As he said that the monster let out a tremendous roar blasting some kind of dark energy at the point blank.

Krantz, Rize, and Zelha were sent flying and landed near the feet of team JNPR and RWBY. When the blast cleared Holia was nowhere to be seen the only evidence she was there were some faintly glowing lights. Pamela instantly bursted into multicolored lights as soon as she hit the ground.

Groaning Krantz looked up and the shocked and horrified faces of the teens above him "Don't stand there...Run."

Ren and Blake snapped out of their shock first. "Come on we have to get back!" As everyone began their retreat bullets rang out pelting the beast trying to do damage or slow it down as Krantz, Rize, and Zelha staggered to their feet. "It's fully charged, we need to finish this in one blow however." Rize muttered.

"Your right, you ask him for it." Krantz said.

"I suggest you hurry however, we are running out of time for these buffs."

Rize nodded and turned and ran back to where everyone was now camped up gunshots and grenades flew and pelted the beast as Krantz and Lilith did their best to hold it back.

"Summoner, allow me to overdrive."

Tobias looked at her for a moment then looked back at the demon that was pushing Krantz and Zelha back. After a moment of deliberation he nodded.

"Okay." He said and a very faint stream of red flew from Tobias and went into Rize. Instantly electricity went into the air, everything seemed to be statically charged around her causing everyone's hair to spike up. "Thank you for the energy summoner." Rize said as she sprinted off back towards the demon.

As soon as she left the intense static charge left and Tobias collapsed.

Ruby looked over in surprise. "Tobias! What happened. Are you okay!?"

He coughed a little. "Im fine im fine. I just had to unleash Rize's ultimate attack. In order to do that I have to give some of my energy over to her because they can't do it naturally anymore.

Jaune and Ren helped him sit up.

"What else can we do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, if you can still take pot shots then go ahead but other than that...sit back and hope." He said.

"Hope for what…" Jaune asked.

"That Rize pulls this off…"

Krantz was doing his best to block the massive swipes that were trying to decapitate them. Zelha was flitting around sending out barrages of swords when she could or slashing and a limb whenever one got too close. More bolts of lightning signaled the return of Rize and she sighed in relief. "Krantz now!"

"Deus Claymore!" another brilliant light flared up as Krantz slashed down the side of the beast again. Now healed up Zelha and Krantz pushed hard trying to push the creature back as far as possible. Rize constantly stabbing it and sending lightning bolts through it.

"Erratic Desire!" another barrage of light swords came hammering down on the beast as it finally backed off. A quick swipe of its claw caught Rize who was trying to get underneath it, she slid along the ground and staggered to her feet giggling. Red lightning was surrounding her. The storm clouds around her seemed to swirl faster around her as she laughed triumphantly. "I'm ready! Give me an opening."

Krantz and Zelha lept up before the demon had a chance to realize what was going on and stabbed through its front claws pinning it momentarily. "HURRY!" they cried out as Rize walked up to its head.

"You fought well… I suppose it was fun fighting you." She pointed her cane at the beast's head and the storm clouds appeared over its head and materialized into a huge golem like beast that floated over its head.

"You guys may want to find some cover." Tobias said.

"What? Why we are so far away." Jaune said.

"Vertex Eve." a golden current went down the length monster that was completely visible even from where everyone else was standing Rize took her spear and stabbed the monster right through its lower jaw and the area exploded in lightning. It was the most beautiful and terrifying lightning storm anyone had seen. Golden arcs sprayed out from every part of the beast. There was a huge booming sound like thunder and the area exploded once more sending debris flying everywhere. Everyone's eyes widened as they ducked for cover, Jaune still in disbelief took a rock right in his face.

As the lightning field faded they saw Rize standing triumphantly on top of the smoldering corpse of the demon as Krantz and Zelha poked at it, testing to make sure it was truly dead this time.

Satisfied that it had truly fallen this time they waved everyone over. As they trudged over they could truly appreciate the size of the creature, as they got closer however even though the lightning had stopped the energy in the air was extremely live, the feeling like they could be struck at anytime couldn't be shaken it sent tingles up everyone's spines. Krantz grinned at the Tobias "Mission accomplished summoner!"

Tobias smiled back "Thanks Krantz."

"Ahem. What about me?" Zelha said "It was my immeasurably beautiful attacks that weakened this creature enough for a finishing blow."

"But of course Zelha, you were amazing as always." He said

Rize finally got down from the top of the creature as she gave a satisfied huff. "This feeling...This satisfaction...I do love this feeling. Thank you for allowing me to fight this foe summoner."

"That was AMAZING the lightning storm was beautiful i wonder what would happen if you shocked me!" Nora said excitedly.

Rize simply stared at the girl, her face completely blank. As Nora noticed the stare Rize was giving her she slowly got quieter. Ren looked in shock at Rize and Nora as they stared each other down as Rize turned away.

"Well." Tobias said. "Someone call the airship, our mission here is done."

"What? But we were suppose to clear out the area!" Ruby protested.

"We just did, grimm are attracted to negative energy right? Well demons emanate a type of energy similar to that and they were attracted. So we killed the demon the grimm will disperse and go find other areas of fresh negative energy. Ozpin knew something large and dangerous was around here but didn't know what exactly so that's why he didn't send out teams of hunters in the first place. But that doesn't explain why he didn't elaborate to me and it sure as hell doesn't explain why he sent you guys to tag along. So our mission is technically done, signal the airship because I have some questions for the professor."


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone. So I just wanted to make sure whoever is reading aware that school has started back up and I will have alot less time for writing the story. So ill try to keep to the 5 day rule as best as possible but if I cant then I cant. But I do plan to finish the story.**

Chapter 11: Mission Complete

Waiting for the airship to come pick them up was an awkward affair, Tobias had continued to pace around the creature's dead body obviously very angry. The rest of the group had decided to make a fire and rest while they waited for the airship, occasionally they would glance over at Tobias's units who were milling around the area. Occasionally some lightning or a flash of light or the sound of steel range out if they happened to come across any grimm but they never approached the fire and they never strayed too far.

"So…" Jaune started, attempting to break the silence. "Those guys are something else huh."

"Yea…" Ruby said. "Do you guys think we'll ever get to that level of skill? Like maybe without all the fancy explosions and stuff but… be as strong as them?"

There was a silence around the fire until a voice spoke out causing everyone to jump. "You definitely can. Looking back on your encounter with Ciara, you will." The red headed knight had finally approached the fire and was standing over them with a kind smile on his face. "Is anyone injured? You are all safe and sound correct?"

"As safe and sound as we can be in the field." Pyrrha responded. "I never did thank you for saving me, what is your name?"

He stabbed his sword into the ground and leaned back on it. "My name is Krantz, it's a pleasure to have fought with you all. Those weapons of yours sure are something else."

"Thank you, but you and the others certainly did all the work, i'm sure that monster didn't even feel our bullets."

"Don't sell yourselves short, you did more than you think." He said with a smile.

Weiss frowned. "What did you mean exactly when you said our encounter with Ciara proves we will get better. She practically wiped the floor with us."

"Well, yes that is true, however i'll let you in on a little secret. You were fighting Ciara after she had just finished using her ultimate brave burst so she was at her strongest."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Ruby interjected. "After we were fighting for a while she completely stopped Weiss and I after we started to push her back… she even took me out in one kick."

"That's simple, you took too long, while yes most of us do have more fighting experience than you we aren't completely untouchable especially if we are fighting multiple people at a time. Ciara...more or less is still human. So what happened was you let her charge her brave burst back up."

"But she never used any kind of explosiony move like you guys." Ruby said.

He held up his finger. "It's her extra skill, once she fills up her brave burst she gets a large strength boost. So not only were you fighting her when her ultimate buffs were still up, she managed to recharge enough to gain another power boost. Luckily for you guys this world limits our recharge rate so you will actually never see her at her very strongest."

Team RWBY looked mortified at the idea that Ciara could grow even stronger, Team JNPR looked faintly interesting. "I don't suppose you could tell us things about where you are from?" Jaune asked. "And like, why you can use all this crazy magic stuff?"

Krantz looked around the clearing and saw bolts of lightning come out from the forest line. "Yea I suppose I could tell you a little." He sat down completely. "So we come from a place called Elgaia, but our ancestors came from a place called Grand Gaia, now the gods in Grand Gaia were very active. And...humans and gods had a tendency to not see eye to eye. Of course most humans knew very little of magic or fighting but the ones who did were often revered and praised as heroes. Similar to your auras and hunters. So when the war between gods and humanity broke out, people had to pick a side and grow strong. Rosetta for example choose to fight on the side of the gods and gained immense power from them. Others had to go through extreme trials to gain their strength, but aganst the gods more often than not it was a losing battle. So humans had to get stronger, luckily there were gods on our side and that helped us escape to Elgaia. So many legends have been passed down from heros who fought in the war, who were pushed to the brink by the dangers of their world and pushed past it all to fight for what they thought was right. So to answer your question...Ruby right? You have tremendous skill, all of you do. I am positive you will become as strong as this world needs you to be. So i wouldn't worry about people like us because we have had far stranger and stronger things to deal with."

"So what you're saying if you and I were fresh I would stand a chance?" Yang said with a smirk.

"Hah, maybe, but lets save that for another time, or perhaps someone else, the airship seems to be here and it's time we take our leave." He disappeared in a flash of light surprising everyone around the campfire, the only evidence that he was there was the large indent in the earth.

Tobias had finally stopped pacing and was now approaching the camp fire when he had de-summoned and re-summoned team CNRS as he saw the airship finally approaching in the early morning sky.

"What was Krantz talkin to you guys about?" he asked

"He was just telling us some history and things about your world." Ren replied.

"I see." he said. His frown suddenly deepened as he snapped his glare in Ruby's direction.

"We need to talk. But it's gunna have to wait until we get into the ship, so everyone start packing up.

Ruby shrunk into her hood a little at the anger in Tobias's tone but nodded and started to go about gathering all the gear together.

Everyone sat in silence on the ship waiting for Tobias to start talking. His units standing behind him in varying stages or disinterest. "What I need all of you to realize right now, is that they." He gestured behind him. "Are not alive anymore. They are dead and won't be coming back, yes they can feel, yes they can hurt, but they are not alive. So don't do anything stupid involving them, they can come back, you on the other hand cannot. We almost proved that back there." He glared at Ruby who shrunk back again.

"But you cant just throw them out into danger like its nothing!" Blake angrily said. "Its more than obvious that they care about you a whole lot yet you brush them off simply because technically they are dead?! They are standing right behind you!"

Tobias leveled his gaze with Blake's. "I have not once sent any of them on any form of suicide mission or had any die just to die, I do my best to gather as much information possible before taking on any mission, these units are some of my greatest friends, and as much as it hurts to watch them die multiple times I still remember that they aren't alive any more to begin with. It took me a long time to accept that fact… but it is what it is."

No one else said anything as they simply stared in silence at Tobias. With that Tobias stood and turned around, walking over to a corner of the ship he laid down. "Wake me up when we get there."

As everyone piled off of the ship stretching their cramped muscles. Tobias walked off to a slightly more secluded area. "Tartarus Burial Melina come to me!"

A small girl with purple hair pinned down by an ornate butterfly pendant and a a golden tiara. She has a purple and gold armor plated battle skirt with a blue pendant hanging down. She is also carrying one short sword in one had connected to a chain, in the other she has multiple smaller throwing knives. Behind here red butterflies hovered around her as she looked up in delight. "Summoner! It's been so long!" She exclaimed as she jumped up and nearly tackled Tobias to the ground.

Grunting Tobias said. "It's good to see you as well Melina but can you put the knives away?"

Pouting she let go of Tobias's neck. "As you wish."

"Alright thanks, follow me."

She skipped up next to him and grabbed ahold of his arm as he started to walk to were the others were.

"Guys!" He called out drawing everyone's attention. He raised up the arm Melina was currently hanging off of. "This is Melina, she's going to be scouting around the school for me and gathering some information, so if you could tell the professors when you get the chance that would be great. If you see her around campus just help her blend in and look like a student I suppose so no one gets suspicious." He raised his arm a bit higher so him and Melina were face to face. "You know what to do, and who to look for."

"As you wish summoner!" she said cheerily. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she suddenly faded and vanished into shadows and disappeared.

Everyone stared in shock as Tobias sported a small blush. "She's always like that. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have a talk with Ozpin.

Tobias strode out of the elevator quickly, eager and anxious to get information about this mission, as he opened the door Ozpin was sitting at his desk gazing out of the window with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Did you know what was out there?" Tobias said.

"I knew something was out there but I didn't know how big or what it was." He replied, not turning around.

"But you knew it wasn't from this world."

"I had a decent hunch, as nothing other than a huge disaster would attract grimm like that area did."

"Why didn't you tell me."

"I figured you would appreciate the chance to look at things outside of the kingdom."

"...why did you send the others with me."

"As I said when I proposed the mission, I couldn't in good conscious send you off alone."

"Then send professionals! Ruby almost died."

Ozpin turned around at that. "Is she alright?"

"Yes she's fine...one of my units healed her."

Ozpin sighed in relief. "Well… I am sorry I couldn't warn you of what was there, I simply couldn't fathom what it could be. But you have my gratitude for solving the problem."

Tobias huffed and began to walk out the door.

"Oh one more thing, I almost forgot." Ozpin called out. Tobias stopped and turned his head to look at the man. "We finished the drawing for who will be competing in the opening round of the tournament for the festival. It will be your team CNRS versus team RWBY."


	12. Chapter 12

**Ayelmao right on schedule. The first week of school is always the hardest but we shall see how it goes. I hope my writing is improving and making it easier for you guys to read... aside from that just tell me how I executed this I guess cause I have no regrets at the moment. Give it a few days tho and ill start regretting.**

Chapter 12: Back to Normalcy

As they watched Tobias walk off Blake looked behind them and saw his units still standing there. "Aren't you going to follow him?"

They turned to look at Blake. "Why? He won't be needing us, and if something happens Melina is still near." Selena said.

"... I guess." Blake said.

Weiss looked at her scroll checking the time. "Hey there's still enough time to go back to the dorm, freshen up and get to class."

"No way Weiss! We just got back from mission, no one even knows we are back yet, I say you give your manic obsession with studying a break and relax for a little." Yang said placing her hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Besides we are all still tired from the trip."

Weiss scoffed. "I refuse to let your slack off nature affect my ability to be prepared for the next test, also think about the example you are showing to Ruby!"

"Weiss… the tournament starts next week, there are no more test until it's over… there's nothing to prepare for, all the teachers even said it would just be review lectures until the festival starts."

Weiss faltered at that. "I...knew that. I simply don't want my perfect attendance to be tarnished by your laziness!"

"As far as everyone knows we are still on mission so we are excused from classes until we return." Yang practically sang.

Weiss slumped her shoulders finally conceding defeat

Yang smiled victoriously. "Now then, let's go get some rest. Then if we want to we can go to the rest of the classes."

Weiss raised an eyebrow in surprise, expecting Yang to want to ditch the entire day

"May...may we join?" Nyami said in a small voice.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Well we were gonna sleep for a bit before doing anything, do you guys sleep?"

"No. We don't require sleep and technically we don't require food. We can keep ourselves occupied around the school however." Rosetta said.

Yang thought back to when she had seen Nyami devour twelve packs of pudding in one sitting. "Right… well okay just meet us around the dorm room about..say twelve?

Melina hadn't taken long in finding her targets, it was rather easier seeing as they weren't really trying to hide. Not that they could hide from her anyway, no one could. Finding a place to listen in to their conversation without standing behind their door or in the middle of their room however was a different matter. She noticed a few metal grates around the area and decided to peek down one and saw they lead down a long network of small tunnels. So here she was crawling through the grates and was not too happy about it. She was no stranger to assassinations and dirty work but the dustiness of these tunnels were disgusting. She was a princess after all. Giving an exasperated sigh she continued to navigate the metal tunnels. Finally she recognized the bored lazy drawl of the boy called Mercury, as disgusting as these tunnels were they carried sound very well and Melina was thankful for that. As she crawled closer the voice became clearer.

"You didn't find anything in his room?"

"Not a thing, in fact it's completely empty, like no one actually stays in there."

"Thats...interesting, I might look into this myself, but until then we have some last minute business to take care of."

"So we meet with Adam and Roman one more time?"

Yes… just to iron out some detail before the tournament starts. We meet at the White Fang rally then we enjoy the festival. "

Summoner didn't know anything about a third teammate… not recognizing the new voice Melina crawled closer to the grate and peered out to look and try to identify who had just spoken, right as she peeked out mint green hair blocked her vision, eyes widening in shock she quickly teleported out of the small tunnel and appeared behind Tobias who was back in his dorm room looking over papers.

Smiling to herself she sang out "Summoner!" Causing Tobias to jump a mile.

"What the hell Melina! What did I say about doing that."

Instead of answering she simply stuck out her tongue and hugged him from behind. "I couldn't really learn anything new aside from there's a third person involved with those two and something called the White Fang. Also they did look in here for stuff, i'm not sure what but they were in here.

"A third person… I guess that makes sense seeing as there are four people in a team...did you happen to see her face?"

Melina pouted. "No, that Emerald girl interrupted my view and I didn't want to be seen so I had to leave in a hurry. But I do know they are meeting at some sort of rally but i'm not sure where."

"Well if its a rally I doubt it will be at the school, it's probably going to be somewhere in the city, they use flying bus things here for travel but you need to pay for them which is probably how they are going to get into the city so I want you to follow them, go ask team RWBY for some money for that bus okay?"

"Okay summoner!" she said as she finally let go of Tobias and disappeared again.

Tobias looked back down at the papers on his desk about the notes of various grimm species and how they relate to animals in El Gaia and Grand Gaia. "I'm really glad Nyami hid these well…"

An Incessant tapping took Weiss out of her surprisingly deep sleep, apparently her worry over Ruby left her more exhausted than she realized. Whatever gratefulness Weiss had for anyone or anything however was quickly dissolved as the tapping continued. "What the hell is that noise?!" she said, raising her voice to not quite the level of shouting but high enough to actually get the attention of Blake who had ignored everything in favor of reading one of her many books. She looked up, ears twitching for a moment before speaking. "I think it's a bird Weiss, it's coming from the window."

Grumbling she got up and stalked over to the window, she had half a mind to try and stab whatever bird kept pecking at the window, she snapped the curtains open and was met with not a bird but purple eyes staring right at her.

Weiss let out a startled shriek as she feel back on her butt causing Ruby, Blake, and Yang to shoot up. Blake being the most alert jumped out of bed next to Weiss. "What's wrong!" Blake asked hurriedly.

Weiss had her hand on her chest as she tried to calm her breathing but she pointed at the window, as Blake followed her gaze she saw a girl with purple eyes floating over the window sill… literally floating. Her eyes widened in shock as she gazed at the scene in front of her. The girl outside knocked on the window again then pointed inside. Yang finally leaned over and looked out the window as well. "Hey isn't that that Melina girl Tobias was talking to earlier?" She said her voice thick with sleep.

"I think your right Yang, the one who kissed him right?" Ruby said climbing down from her bunk.

Weiss and Blake's eyes widened in recognition as Ruby moved to the window and opened it up. Melina zipped inside and landed in front of Blake and Weiss shaking her finger at them. "Its rude to keep a princess waiting."

"Princess..?" Ruby said.

"Indeed!" she said turning back to Ruby with a small curtsy. "Sixth imperial princess of Baruria."

"Hey she's like you Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed.

Melina turned back to Weiss, curiosity evident in her eyes.

Sighing Weiss spoke. "I've told you dozens of times Ruby it's heiress."

"Well I mean...Same difference right?" Ruby said.

"Before we get into technicalities." Melina interrupted. "Summoner told me to come ask you for some of this worlds currency, I need to to use the airbus and get into the city."

"Why do you need to go into the city?" Blake asked.

Melina stared at her for a moment before saying. "Ask my summoner, if it is something you should know he will tell you."

Blake narrowed her eyes at Melina but nodded. "Okay. Ill ask him then." She then patted her sides to look for her wallet, pulling out a small plastic rectangle with an elaborate L on it she handed it to Melina. "That's ten lien that should be enough to get you there and back."

Melina smiled. "Thank you. I'll be taking my leave now." she once again gave a small curtsy then her form faded into darkness and vanished.

"Whoa." Ruby said. While Yang stared at the spot where Melina was once standing, her eyes narrowed.

Knocking at the door brought Yang out of her musings however as she walked over to answer it. She opened the door revealing Ciara and company, pulling out her scroll in surprise she saw that it was indeed Twelve on the dot. "Oh hey guys! Sorry we aren't ready we just were talking with Melina."

"Oh? Melina was here? Why?" Ciara asked.

"She needed some lien to get into town."

"I see. I suppose she is good at what she does."

"And what exactly is she doing?" Blake asked.

Ciara looked past Yang and stared at Blake. "Ask our summoner, if he thinks you need to know he will tell you."

Blake gave a suffering sigh as she nodded. "I don't even know why I tried."

Ciara gave a small chuckle. "Now that you've taken your naps was there anything in particular you wanted to do?"

The girls looked among themselves for a moment before Weiss spoke up. "We would have Oobleck's class next right? I wanted to see the scores for the test."

"Did you and summoner not make a bet over the test as well?" Selena said.

"Oh that's right! You guys did! I'll send him a message right now." Ruby said "Let's see if he is as smart as he really says.

"Well, now that we have a destination in mind let's head out!" Yang said.

Class was just starting when they got there, they strolled in leisurely knowing was always came in few seconds after class started. Their classmates looked at them in surprise and asked how they had returned so fast and what had happened on the mission. Team RWBY just chuckled and told everyone there were less grimm than expected and they had cleared everything out pretty quick. Tobias finally arrived just as zoomed in from the other door. Tobias sat down greeting everyone and tossed Nyami a pudding pack, much to her delight. shuffled some papers on his desk before looking up and scanning the classroom. His eyes fell on team RWBY and CNRS. "Ah! Girls! You back simply stupendous, you truly performed well on that mission if i do say so myself after reviewing the video, it was simply excellent." He gave them knowing glances but continued on anyway "You made it back just in time for me to return the test to you. However before I do I want to let everyone know this is our last day of class until the festival is over, so please let me give you back your test then you can relax or leave!"

Excited murmuring went around the classroom as he zoomed through the aisles passing back test. When he finally got to them he slowed down and gave a small wink to Weiss. "Excellent as always , however this time you did have some stiff competition." he said smiling while he passed out the rest of the papers. Weiss's eyes widened as she looked at Tobias who in return gave a smug grin.

"Aw so close, i got a 89" Ruby said.

"Better luck next time Ruby." Blake said while patting her on the back. " I got a 92."

Yang let out a small huff. "80." this cause Blake to stop patting Ruby on the back and begin to tease Yang, poking her in the stomach and telling her she shoulda just studied with her.

This left Tobias and Weiss staring at the others upside down paper.

"Well?" Ruby asked impatiently. "Lets see whos smarter!"

"Ladies first." Tobias said with a smirk.

Weiss let out a haughty huff. "I think you mean winners first, there no way you could possibly match my score when you hardly ever came to class in person." She flipped over her paper and looked at the score. "98." she said and looked at Tobias smugly. "Good luck."

Smirking back he brought the paper to face with a flourish as he read his score aloud. "98…"

"You guys...tied." Blake said.

Tobias and Weiss simply stared at each others papers again until something tickled the back of Tobias's neck. He turned around and saw Nyami holding out a bunch of papers. "What are these? Your guy's test?"

She nodded. Tobias turned around and looked through them quickly not surprised to see that they had filled in the exact same answers as him however he was forced to do a quick double take on the last paper which had a big 100 percent with a red circle around it. "Wha-... Nyami?! How did you get a hundred?!"

"What?!" Weiss said. "Give me that!" She snatched the paper looking over it frantically while Nyami spoke up again.

"W-well I knew summoner did not appreciate us taking his word as the right one when it came to various things… and I knew you didn't know what the second question was so...I guessed something else."

Tobias gave a huge grin as he patted her head. "Haha im proud of you, good job."

Weiss however was having the opposite effect. She stared at the paper in disbelief. "I...I got a lower score than a pudding eating demon…?"

"Hey she's a Morokai not a demon." Tobias interjected.

She snapped her head at Tobias. "That's not the point! How did you learn all this material so fast, you hardly ever came to class!"

Tobias held his hands up. "I mean yea I wasn't there but I had these guys taking notes for me."

"That doesn't mean anything! He always slips in things he's talking about that are little hints… how could you possible have noted those."

"They wrote down everything he said. I didn't actually miss anything."

Weiss looked about ready to burst a blood vessel. Ruby put a had on her shoulder right as Tobias said. "Look...you need to take the stick out of your ass." He smirked deviously. "Or at least make it one Ruby can use as well."

His words had the intended effect. Yang let out a loud cackle as Weiss instantly burned a bright red color and stood up and walked briskly out of the room. Ruby, surprised at the mention of herself in the joke but not quite getting it stood up with her as Weiss began to move all the while asked "Wait! Weiss! Calm Down, what did he mean! Weiss please!"

A few minutes later the laughter died down from team CNRS and the BY of RWBY. "Oh man that was a good on Tobias. Although if it's Weiss we are talking about it shoulda been an icicle not a stick." Yang said. This set off a whole new round of laughter. Wiping a tear from her eye Yang said. "Well we should probably go check on them before Weiss has an aneurysm. They are probably back in the dorm.

As they approached the dorm room the last few chuckles were getting out of their system. Yang put up a hand telling them to stand back for a second before putting her ear to the door. "Well...I don't hear yelling so it looks like Ruby managed to calm her down."

"I hope she's not too mad at me for making that joke. She knows it's fairly obvious right?" Tobias said.

"I mean yea but Ruby is a brick wall when it comes to that kind of thing."

"I see." he said with a small laugh, he looked back at Ciara. "Is that why you liked to mess with her?"

Ciara smiled and nodded.

Yang opened the door and took a step inside only to freeze mid way through the door.

"What's wrong Yang?" Blake asked looking over her and freezing in shock, eyes wide.

Tobias now very curious peeked over Yang's shoulder and the sight that greeted him made his jaw drop.

Weiss had Ruby pinned up against the wall her hands firmly clasped with Ruby's and were locked in a very intense lip lock.


	13. Chapter 13

**Before I actually start writing that chapter i just wanted to know If you guys want a specific pair to fight together in the doubles round. So if you do let me know! As always let me know how I did blah blah blah enjoy the story.**

Chapter 13: Sorting it Out

The room was dead silent when they finally broke apart, Ruby and Weiss simply stared at each other, Weiss's expression unreadable and Ruby's in clear shock, her face bright red. A very noticeable temperature difference however drew both of their attentions to the doorway, where Yang was steadily processing what she had just seen and the longer she stood there the angrier she seemed to be getting. Both of them went an even redder color, rivaling Ruby's cloak.

"I-I-I…" Weiss started but her voice failed her as she looked at Yang. "I need to go."

She began to all but run out of the room and Yang and reached out to stop her but she was stopped by Blake. As Weiss left the room Yang turned to Blake, red eyes blazing, right as she opened her mouth to say something Blake pointed behind her at Ruby, who was still looking very much shellshocked. Yang faltered, looking back at Ruby and towards the door, Blake gave her a pointed look and pushed her towards Ruby. Blake then quickly turned around and grabbed Tobias by the hand pulling him out of the room, his units following. As they closed the door behind them Blake cleared her throat. "Well...I...I i'm sure what to really say… that was a thing we just witnessed. We should find Weiss though. Im sure she has some explaining to do…"

Tobias rubbed the back of his neck. "Yea…yea I suppose. Nyami, help us look for Weiss, the rest of you are dismissed."

Ciara, Rosetta, and Selena burst into multicolored lights leaving Nyami who promptly began to run ahead quickly disappearing from view. Tobias and Blake also ran off albeit at a much slower pace in search of Weiss.

Surprisingly it didn't take that long to find Weiss, after ten minutes of searching she came across her sitting on one of the rooftops that had student access not too far from their dorm. They approached slowly, not really sure how to start the conversation until Weiss spoke up. "Go away Blake."

"How did you know it was me?" She asked.

"If it was Yang she would have broken down the door." came the flat reply.

Tobias had to stifle a small chuckle that threatened to break through but Blake heard it and glared at him. He raised his hands in apology and gestured for Blake to go forward. She walked over to where Weiss was sitting and put her hand over Weiss's shoulder. "You know you are going to have to explain yourself...there's no avoiding it seeing as we live together. So why not talk to the person who doesn't want to rip your head off first."

Sighing she lowered her head. "I'm not really sure what came over me… I was upset, embarrassed, and she kept getting in my face asking me what was wrong and being so caring and selfless and I just...snapped. I… truly do care for Ruby but i'm not sure how to express it. I as a Schnee am used to getting whatever I wanted… so it I just instinctively...took. She's just so caring and sweet and I would never do anything to hurt her now but I…" her voice started to crack as she teared up and she covered her face. "I just ruined whatever semblance of friendship she had managed to create, she won't ever talk to me again even if I survive Yang's wrath it will just be awkward every night. I'm a disgustingly selfish person… all I do is take and not think of anyone else… only myself."

"Weiss I know you need to get this off your chest but i'm going to have to stop you right there." Blake said. "When we first met...at first yes you were rather...bitchy and uptight. But as we have come along together as a team you have been for one much more friendly to everyone. You also looked past your upbringing to see me for who I really was and not just some random fanus you even looked past my whitefang background. You take the time to help us with our notes and study you always push us to do perfectly. So...I won't let you say you are selfish because you aren't, you've grown immensely as a person and i think that if you let Ruby know your true feelings… then you could dissolve this whole awkward situation. And hey who knows, maybe Ruby swings that way as well.

Weiss looked up at Blake, her eyes red. "You...you really think that?"

"I wouldn't be out here if I didn't." Blake said reassuringly. "Now...let's go talk to Yang and Ruby."

Weiss shuddered. "Are you sure…?"

"Yea. I'll make sure Yang doesn't do anything crazy. You just gotta make your feelings clear."

Weiss still looked apprehensive. "But what if Ruby doesn't want to talk to me anymore...what if she doesn't want to be near me? I don't want to be alone again..."

"Weiss...it's Ruby, you probably just...startled her is all." Blake said.

Sniffling she nodded. "O-okay, let's go then.

Blake helped Weiss to her feet and they began to walk towards the door. Tobias stood up and opened it and waited for them to pass through before following.

They took their time walking back, a leisurely stroll through the halls as Weiss gathered her courage and words. "I've been meaning to bring this up Tobias but...I'm not sure if it's the same thing also I need to stall for more time." Weiss said.

"Hmm? Whats up?" Tobias asked.

"I can summon things."

Tobias nearly tripped and looked at her in surprise. "Excuse me?

"My semblance is not just glyph manipulation. I can do a number of things with them and summoning is one of them, but I can never seem to get it right...so do you perhaps have any tips on how to summon? You seem to do it so effortlessly.

Tobias looked at her intently, trying to process this curveball of information. "Well...I guess for starters...it's just practice, a lot of practice and trial and error. But sometimes there are technicalities to it. Do you perhaps have any requirements needed to summon something?"

Weiss shook her head. "Anything i've slain or assisted in slaying I can summon to fight for me in battle. It's a Schnee family trait."

Tobias blinked. "Hereditary..? Most semblances aren't like that correct?"

Blake nodded.

"Well...so you can summon grimm and stuff. But i'm not sure how it works so...maybe you're mentally suppressing the ability. Was there perhaps a training incident that went wrong?"

"There was but I don't see how that affects anything, it wasn't a traumatizing experience." Weiss said frowning at Tobias.

It's...strange and uncomfortable...to see the things i've killed helping me when I know they are nothing but monsters that have slaughtered innocent people for fun."

"Well...that might be it. You have to accept the fact that your summons were originally evil, take that fact and push it out of your mind, you could be afraid of them but for what reason? They are under your control now. Take the one girl you saw after we killed the demon, the blond one Rize. She's destroyed countless of cities killed who knows how many people, but I have to look past that and accept her into me because now we are one and I know she can't do anything without my permission. I think you just have to embrace accept and train with this power Weiss."

Weiss scoffed. "You sound like my sister. It's not like I haven't been doing that."

"Have you though? REALLY embraced it?" he said.

Weiss fell silent. As they neared the door Weiss took a deep breath and looked at Blake who nodded in encouragement. Weiss took a deep breath and opened the door.

Weiss stepped inside with Blake not too far behind her to see Yang and Ruby sitting across from each other on Weiss's and Blake's bed just staring at each other. They looked over at the door way, and from the fact that Yang didnt instantly try to punch Weiss it had seemed that Ruby had calmed her down somehow and she was simply waiting for Weiss to speak.

Weiss decided to approach this in a similar fashion to when suitors would try to gain her favor. "Yang Xiao Long I wish to court your sister!"

The room was dead silent before a stifled laugh sounded out from Tobias, Blake patted his back but was trying hard not to smile.

Yang looked at Weiss for a moment. "What."

Despite her cheeks being bright red she stood tall and continued to talk. "I understand that what I did earlier was...improper and...immoral but I wish to see past that and ask for your permission to date your sister."

Yang raised her eyebrow continuing to stare at Weiss. "I'm not sure why you are asking me. Im not Ruby for one, and I also can't make her choices for her. So...don't talk to me talk to Ruby, HOWEVER I am still her big sister, do anything to hurt Ruby and you would like what will be coming for you."

Weiss nodded quickly. "I would never harm Ruby" She then turned to Ruby. "R-Ruby… I apologize about earlier...and I wanted to know… If you would go out with me?" Weiss waited with bated breath as Ruby slowly reddened up again.

"W-w-well, Weiss i've always thought you were p-p-pretty and I-I explained to Yang that I do think I have f-feelings for you so that's why she wasn't all Firey and and mad at you s-so." Ruby began to ramble on until she was interrupted by Yang.

"It was a yes or no question Ruby calm down and just say yes already."

Ruby's face turned a shade similar to her face and looked into Weiss's eyes. "Y-yes i would love to go out with you Weiss. C-can we just take it slow though? I'm not really mentally prepared for...stuff like THAT."

Weiss turned red but had a huge smile on her face. "Of course Ruby of course! She stood up and embraced Ruby, it started out as a simple hug but the longer it went on the more awkward it became for the rest of them in the room.

Clearing her throat Yang spoke up. "Look...im happy for you and all but you need to realize we are still here."

Weiss and Ruby quickly broke apart. "Of course, my apologies." Weiss said. "So, Ruby...after the Vytal Festival would you like to go out to the town?"

Ruby smiled. "It's a date."

Tobias smiled at the scene before him before a sudden thought crossed his mind. Snapping his fingers he said "That's right! I forgot to tell you guys, for the Vytal Festival you and team CNRS will be the opening match, I gotta go though i'll see you guys later."

The girl's eyes widened at this news as they stared at the now shut door. A muffled "What?!" could be heard and Tobias chuckled as he made his way back to his room.

*Downtown Vale*

Melina sat on the edge of a building swinging her sword nonchalantly as she watched Mercury, Emerald, and who she had now figured out was a woman named Cinder. She had been following them for the past day now, at first they had seemed to be picking up supplies for something but now they were bringing them to a large warehouse in a less than reputable part of the town. Cinder was directing men wearing strange white mask around as they lugged various sized boxes into the warehouse. She turned her attention to the warehouse itself. There seemed to be a decent commotion going on inside. She dropped from her perch and snuck inside, blinking to the rafters so she could get a better view. There was a rather large rally going on inside, every single person inside however had a white mask on besides one small girl who had pink and brown hair. She stood up on a stage just behind an exceptionally large man who was currently speaking. "Returning members and new members of the White Fang! We are pleased to have such a large turn out this initiation. We will now hear from our leader Adam Taurus and he will brief you on our efforts and causes that will be coming up soon.

A door behind the stage opened up and a man with bright red hair stepped out. "Greetings brothers and sisters of the White Fang!" As he continued to talk he went over raids on shipments that were a success until something he said caught Melina's attention. "Our allies have gotten us all the supplies we need for our cause and we will be moving soon! So everyone be alert for the signals we will be sending the date out soon, Long Live the White Fang!" The crowd erupted into cheers and uproars as they shouted White Fang over and over again. Melina looked around briefly before dropping down from the rafters and ran into an adjacent hallway. She took the long way making sure no one saw her as she slowly looped around trying to get to the door by the stage, as she neared the stage she waited for them to be properly distracted before quickly slipping inside. Behind the door was a hallway with one door at the end and two extra rooms. She walked forward to the end room and looked inside. It was an office like space with numerous maps and plans spread all over the table. She slowly walked around the room picking up various papers that looked like they were important when a small cube like device caught her eye. "Summoner's communicator!" she exclaimed rushing over and picking it up, as she inspected it looking for any forms of tampering or damage a voice called out behind her.

"Hey! Little girl i'm going to need to you come with me and we will find your parents in the rally."

Barely looking behind her she threw her knives in the direction of the voice and continued her inspection. Coughing made her turn around in surprise as she saw the man clutching his throat where the knife had hit but not gone through. He recovered quickly and drew out two butterfly swords and got in an attack stance. "What the hell...how did a human like you get back here! Drop whatever you have and come here with your hands up!"

Melina stared at him for a moment before smiling brightly, she dropped the papers and the communicator before vanishing into blackness.

"What the he-" The man started before he suddenly got choked off.

Melina giggled madly as she wrapped the chain of her sword around the man's neck. "I forgot in this world people are just a little bit harder to kill!" She tightened her grip on the chain as the man struggled and flailed weakly against the chain. "Hmm..what do you say we have a little fun." She said still smiling as she brought her sword up to the man's neck. The man's eyes widened as he struggled harder and harder before finally a small flicker of green spread across his body. Melina smiled even wider and giggled. "Looks like you aren't that much harder to kill after all!" she exclaimed before blood began to pour across the floor.

"Hmm so much for stealth." She said tapping her blood soaked sword to her lip before letting out a small giggle. She walked back to where she had left the papers and the communicator picked them up and began to walk towards the door putting the communicator in her pocket. She was halfway down the hallway when the door opened once again, this time the pink and brown haired girl and the red haired man stood in the doorway.

The girl tilted her head quizzically at her while the man's widened in surprise as she shouted. "What the hell are you doing back here?" He looked at her hand which had the maps and schematics in it and then he looked at the room she had just came from, his eyes widening even further as he saw the body lying there. There was a loud bang and Melina cried out in pain as she flew backwards, she clutched her arm and she looked around wildly for what had hit her. On the ground was a long red katana and next to it were the maps. She looked up angrily preparing to fight but stopped as she remembered she still had the communicator on her. By that time the man had picked up and brandished his katana at her while the woman had a long needle like sword sticking out of her umbrella pointed at her. "Well...this was a pleasant meeting." Melina said. "But I have something I absolutely must return to my summoner, so we must continue this at a later date."

"You die right here human, little girl or not you can't kill my men and get away with it." The redhead snarled taking a step forward.

Melina smiled brightly again. "Oh there's the fighting spirit! I wish i had found you instead of that man back there, awfully boring." She giggled. "But I must insist, another time." As she said that she faded into blackness once more and disappeared.


	14. Chapter 14

**Man my teachers really like giving me a lot of work. Anyway This chapter is my longest by far so hurray! Ive nothing to say about it other that action scenes. As always let me know how i did and all of that. Please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 14: Opening Match! CNRS VS RWBY

The rest of the week went by in a blur, after Tobias had informed team RWBY they would be going against each other in the opening round no less they had thrown themselves into the training determined to win, they even called upon team JNPR to spar against different styles. Determined to win, they only met with Tobias once during the remaining week where he told them that he would be managing his unit's "aura levels" as well as gave a few tips on what his units were allowed to do.

"As you know i've lowered their strength so they are still on par with you guys, I also give them their own "semblance" you've seen Ciara's so she will only be using one of those wolves, and Rosetta unfortunately will not be able to use anything but her own skills. As for the others...you will just have to see. Also...don't let your guard down with Selena, she isn't called the arena queen for nothing. Good luck!"

As he walked away Ruby turned around, her face uncharacteristically serious for once. "We are SO going to make him regret telling us that info. We've trained so much there's no way we are going to lose to them! Especially not the opening round when all of our schoolmates and friends are cheering us on. We need to come up with some plans!"

"Agreed...we will need some serious strategies if we are going to take them on." Weiss said "Let's go to the dorm and come up with some."

Weiss gave a heavy sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yang we simply can't just FORCE them to get close together, they know we can't take them on one on one so they will want to split us up, If all of them are as physically strong as Ciara is there's no way we can push the fight in our favor by force alone."

"They we will have to wing it and hope someone can break away from whoever their fighting long enough to open up a combo attack on someone else. Frankly speaking Ruby is our best bet in winning this. Her speed allows her to jump all around the field without sacrificing many openings. So what im thinking is Ruby picks the closest person fighting near her and she opens up for a quick knockout, a out of bounds preferably so they can't react as fast."

"So we are going to wing it in the beginning eh…" Yang suddenly smirked. "Just how I like it!"

"Well...we kinda have a plan. Lets win this thing, BANZAI!" Ruby said.

"BANZAI!"

As mid-day rolled around on the day of the festival the tournament was finally about to start, the air around the school was positively electric. Everywhere team RWBY went people ran up and wished them good luck and gave their best were waiting for their airship to come take them to the arena when team JNPR showed up and wished them good luck. "Your opponents are fierce, we know that much for a fact but I am confident you will be able to win." Ren said supportively.

"Yea you guys got this!" Nora cheered energetically.

Jaune glanced up and said. "It looks like your ship is here, good luck guys look for us in the stands we will be cheering for you!"

They waved good bye as they boarded the airship to be transported up to the arena the thrill of the festival disappeared in a flash, its replacement was anxiety, nervousness, and excitement. They were led to the waiting room for the arena. It was a brightly light lush room with some fruits on a table and a couch in front of a table for them to lounge in while the opening ceremonies played. No one was paying attention to the screen however as they were lost in thought, the atmosphere in the room tense. Blake looked around, Ruby was sitting anxiety clear on her face as her leg bounced so fast Blake could have sworn she was using her semblance. Weiss was sitting next to her with her eye's closed like she was meditating, her fingers danced along the hilt of Myrtenaster however giving away her anxiousness. Yang was pacing behind the couch, despite her trash talking clearly nervous. Blake walked over and put her hand on Yang's shoulder and gave a comforting smile. "Don't worry guys, I'm confident we can do this, we have been through so much, now lets win this thing." Despite blushing she raised her hand and led a cheer. "Go team RWBY!"

Yang grinned, a fierce fire lighting in her eyes as she joined in. "Yea! Go team RWBY!"

Weiss and Ruby both looks up smiling as they stood up and walked over to the bay doors and waited for them to open. "We got this." Ruby said pumping her fist as Crescent Rose came into full bloom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Hunters and Huntresses! Welcome, to the Fortieth Vytal Festival Tournament! We are here today in the Amity Colosseum on this wonderful day to get this tournament underway!" Professor Port boomed over the microphone. "I Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck will be your hosts for the duration of this tournament. My co-host here will now explain the rules for any newcomers to the Vytal tournament."

"Thank you Peter!" said in his rapid speech. "This tournament will be held bracket style where there are four rounds for each competing team, you must win three out of the four rounds of the team battle to progress to the doubles round, where you must when two out of the three until finally there are the singles rounds where they will continue to go head to head until the victor emerges! The fighting rules are simple the team and doubles round can be won by reducing an opponent's aura level to below twenty percent or by knocking them out of the ring! The one on one rounds will go until either sides auras are completely drained or ring out."

"HAHA! Thank you Barty for the explanation, now let's get this tournament underway, as per tradition our opening match will showcase two very promising teams from the host academy, from Beacon academy, ladies and gentlemen please give it up for Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long of team RWBY and Ciara, Nyami, Rosetta, and Selena Marshall of team CNRS!"

The bay doors on each side of the arena opened revealing team RWBY and team CNRS walking towards the middle platform towards each other. The cheers from Beacon were nearly deafening as the shouts for team RWBY and the occasional team CNRS could be heard. Some people had even made signs with their faces on them. Team RWBY looked around in astonishment at the grandeur of it all and the energy of the arena. "Man this is awesome." Yang said.

"You can say that again…" Ruby mumbled.

"This is really awsome…" Yang repeated.

"Stop that and focus." Weiss snapped. Despite that she had a huge smile on her face.

"Yea yea whatever you say ice queen." Blake jabbed.

They reached the metal platform and were staring down team CNRS. Ciara had a cocky grin on her face as she stared at them, red eyes blazing with excitement as she raised her scythe and held it out in front of her. "Ready for our rematch?" she winked at Ruby.

Ruby tensed up, her hand subconsciously going to her stomach as she narrowed her eyes at Ciara. "You're going down!"

"I look forward to it, please try not to disappoint us." Selena said with a cool grin on her face, her eyes unreadable but her entire body language screamed danger.

Rosetta raised her rapier in front of her face. "I will bring honor to the summoner, I won't let you stand in my way.

Nyami looked around nervously at all the people simply whimpering and raising her scarf to cover her mouth.

Holograms suddenly appeared on all sides of the arena, they showed pictures of a volcano a forest an ocean a desert a mountain a tundra and a city. All at once they started to alternate pictures like a slot machine until finally they stopped on the volcano the forest the ice zone and the city. Immediately the outer ring fell away and collapsed downwards, after a few moments it came back up sporting the climates the pictures had just shown. The volcano zone was directly behind team CNRS and the ice zone was directly behind team RWBY. a flaming geyser went off in the fiery zone making Rosetta jump a little and take a small step forward, visibly uncomfortable.

Weiss's eyes narrowed as she looked at Rosetta, that reaction bugging her more than it should have. She brushed the thought out of her mind for now however as Rosetta seemed to have taken her stare as a challenge and was now staring right back at her. She tightened her grip on Myrtenaster.

"This arena is specifically designed to test hunter and huntresses ability to adapt and fight in different kinds of environments!" said. "Using one's surroundings to give yourself an advantage is one of the most important things a hunter can do when fighting as it can reduce the chance of casualties."

"Yes quite, we will see a combination of these two teams of hunter's ability to cooperate, communicate and adapt to their opponent to see who comes out on top!" Professor Port boomed. "Now without further ado! Let us start the first round of the Vytal tournament! Three!

The weapons that hadn't already been brandished were now out in their full glory.

"Two!"

Both team's stances dug in to prepare to attack.

"One!"

The tension in the middle of the arena was so thick you could practically see it.

"BEGIN!"

They all exploded into motion.

Weiss's eyes widened as Rosetta charged in surprisingly fast with her shield out front, thankfully her practice with Ruby had paid off and she was able to bring the hilt of her sword up in time to block the majority of the blunt charge, unfortunately she was launched backwards into the ice zone she tried to keep her footing as she landed but the ice proved to be too slippery and she fell down sliding a few more feet backwards. She slowly got back to her feet to see Rosetta closing the distance again, she raised Myrtenaster once more and stood in proper fencing form and waiting for Rosetta to come to her.

As soon as Port had said go Ruby exploded into petals and rushed Ciara quickly pushing her back as Ciara attempted to keep up with her speed, sparks flying everywhere as the two scythe masters clashed again and again. Yang realizing that Ciara had clearly struck a nerve in Ruby and she was beginning to abandon the plan, she began to run after them determined to try to keep them together in order to execute what little plan they had. Her dash was cut short however as a brilliant blue blade came into her vision, her eyes widened as she tried to raise her gauntlets to block the slash but she was going to be too slow.

However a black katana intercepted the longsword before it could reach its target, Blake grunting from holding her back at such an awkward angle. Yang was about to follow up on Blake's block when she noticed a shadow behind Blake, she turned around and threw a hard right hook managing to catch Nyami off guard and sending her flying back. Grunting with exertion Blake managed to get out. "Ill try to get to Ruby! Just keep Nyami busy!"

Yang hesitated before nodding and turning about around to where Nyami was getting up and let loose a volley of blast through Ember Cecilia, unsurprisingly Nyami managed to dodge them all without any trouble. Yang grinned regardless as she charged forwards for Nyami because the missiles were now currently on a direct path for Rosetta.

Weiss saw the missiles coming but remained still as until Rosetta finally got within striking distance. She quickly lunged forward through Rosetta's guard forcing her to jump back. She then gave a quick strike aiming for her face which was quickly parried. After a few more seconds of swordplay the missiles were finally close enough that Weiss dove out of the way as the impacted Rosetta. She let out a piercing shriek as she slid along the ice floor Weiss quickly getting up and forming a glyph behind her jumping up on it and launching herself off of it trying to stab Rosetta. Rosetta managed to raise her shield just in time to block the hit but the force of the blow sent her skidding along the floor even faster and made her lose grip of her shield. As it slid off the the side Weiss quickly ran over and kicked it behind her and held up her sword once more. She glanced at the large screen displaying their aura levels and was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone was still in the green and the one who had taken the most damage so far was Rosetta however, Blake's was dropping at a steady rate and Weiss was worried she might lose at this rate unless someone got to her. As Rosetta climbed to her feet she saw her shield lying behind Weiss, frowning she raised her rapier in proper fencing position and for a moment they stared each other down before Rosetta suddenly lunged once again stabbing rapidly with her blade. It was all Weiss could do but to dodge the attacks that were sent her way, retreating rapidly she forgot about the shield for a moment until she stepped on it. The sudden obstacle made her lose her footing and as she fell Rosetta instantly came in and gave a vicious stab into her left shoulder sending her sliding along the floor near where Yang was brawling with Nyami.

As Blake and Selena uncrossed blades her smile never faltered, instead Selena went into a rather relaxed position with her sword hanging low to the ground shimmering brightly and her other hand up in a ready position. A bit unnerved by her relaxed demeanor Blake decided to wait for her to make the first move ready to counter. Selena lunged forward and slashed in an skyward arc which Blake promptly dodged and executed her own downward slash only to have Selena's blade hit square across the chest. Stumbling back she looked at Selena quizzically trying to figure out how she had moved her sword so fast, she was wide open before. Blake went back into a counter position determined to see through her guard. This time Selena came at her with an overhead slash which blake caught and deflected with both Gambol Shroud and its sheath, pushing her sword upwards Selena stumbled back and Blake took her chance to strike. Only to be slammed into the ground this time by the sword it catching her right on the collarbone. Groaning she picked herself up off the floor and look up at Selena whose small smile had turned into a smirk. Swallowing Blake was starting to regret sending Yang off to fight Nyami, but she had to figure out the trick to her fighting style so once again she got into a counter stance. She was being toyed with and Blake really didn't appreciate it but this time she had an idea. As Selena dashed in once more this time going with a slash towards her middle, Blake met the blade and pushed it back, as soon as she did she used her semblance and jumped back leaving a clone in her place and watched intently. Selena was recovering from her blade being pushed back but now that she was further back there was like an after image like shine that followed the path of her blade that cleaved her clone in two. Blakes eyes widened in shock and amazement as Ports voice boomed over the microphones. "Well if that isn't an amazing semblance i'm not sure what is! Selena has the ability to produce multiple strikes out of one attack!"

Blake grimaced at this new information. "How in the hell am I supposed to get through her…"

Selena smiled again. "Smart of you to figure out what i'm doing, that's an interesting trick you can do. I do hope you are prepared though, brace yourself here I come! She leaned forward, her stance now at the ready sword pointed straight at Blake as she dashed forward.

"Ya know...this was a lot funnier when it was happening to Cardin." Yang grunted out as another one of her punches were pushed to the side. The brawler not able to make any headway with the small girl as she either dodged or deflected all the punches Yang threw at her, thankfully Nyami hasn't been able to land many major blows against her either. All the sparing with Blake made Yang painfully aware that people who fight by darting around quickly and disorienting their enemies enjoy going for the back. More times than she can count now Yang has had to spin around after the girl disappeared from view to stop a clawed fist from running down her back. The little scratches were starting to add up however and Yang could feel her semblance slowly but surely powering up. Nyami launched herself at her again this time Yang managed to dodge to the side and give her a powerful upper cut that sent her flipping through the air, eager to capitalise on the chance made she ran after here winding up a follow up punch however Nyami righted herself mid air and kicked out right as Yang punched, launching her into the Cityscape where she quickly disappeared. Yang hesitated, unsure if she should chase after her or try to help someone else. She glanced at the screen showing their aura levels and saw that Blake's was steadily dropping, however at the same time Weiss sliding to a stop near her feet caught her attention as well. She quickly said to Weiss. "Do you need my help? Cause it looks like Blake is having some problems."

Yang helped Weiss to her feet and she looked at over at Rosetta who was running over to her shield she picked it up and began to run over to where Weiss and Yang were, however slid to a halt as a huge pillar of flames erupted from the lava zone causing Rosetta to skid to a halt nervousness clear on her face. As well as drawing the attention of all the contenders in the arena.

Ruby continued to blink too and fro as she tried to land a hit on Ciara determined to show Ciara that she was not to be taunted or underestimated. Ciara on the other hand was retreating fiercely in order to compete with Ruby's high speed assault. The two scythe wielders spun their blades rapidly sparks clashing. Ruby swung wide trying to made the curved blade reach around her guard and hit her when Ciara ducked under and twisted her blade so it hooked Ruby in. Her eyes widened as she saw the punch coming directly for her face and instantly vanished into rose petals reappearing a few steps away.

Ciara straightened herself and brandished her scythe again. "Well well well it looks like you are better than I gave you credit for...however I don't think you work with others well."

Ruby gritted her teeth. "This is all part of the plan. You want to see some teamwork? Once I take you down you'll see some real teamwork!" She dashed back into Ciara, this time stabbing the butt of Crescent Rose into the ground and vaulting over Ciara's own scythe planting both of her feet into Ciara's chest sending her tumbling into the lava zone. Clutching her chest she got up and looked at Ruby incredulously, apparently shocked that she hit her, Ruby smirked and Ciara frowned. "Fine, you want to play?" her frown suddenly turned into a feral smile. "Let's play!" Fire erupted around her revealing a flaming wolf that surrounded her protectively. She lunged forward in a wide cleave forcing Ruby to duck and right as she was about to swing her scythe back up to counter the wolf was suddenly in her face forcing Ruby to blink away. Ciara kept up her assault, no matter how Ruby dodged or blocked her scythe the wolf was always near making it nearly impossible to counter attack. Ruby started to panic a little as she lost more and more ground to Ciara's feral rush. She backed up more and more until Ciara's blade finally managed to clip her causing her to fall to the floor, Ciara continued to use her momentum and jumped high into the air. Spinning her blade in the air she brought it down hard, Ruby's eyes widening and managed to blink away again right before impact. The blade cleaved straight down through the rose petals and deep into the earth, the impact causing eruptions all over the lava zone. As Ciara tried to pull her blade out of the ground Ruby took her chanced, blinking in front of Ciara she used all her momentum to bring her knee into Ciara's face knocking her completely on her back. The blow apparently dazing her temporarily because the flaming wolf that was harassing Ruby dissipated. Port's voice boomed through the mic again "Ohh! Ciara will probably kneed to get that one looked at.

Weiss stared at Rosetta, her reaction the flames were bugging her and she wasn't sure why she looked over at here Ciara was picking herself up and then suddenly it clicked. Tobias had told them they had one crucial weakness, one that could be seriously abused in this situation. "Yang! Go help Blake I can take on Rosetta myself!"

"What? Are you sure?" Yang said a bit shocked.

"Positive, i'll be joining you shortly.

Weiss spun the cylinder on Myrtenaster stopping it on the red dust, as they dust slowly coated her her blade. She created three glyphs beside her and launched fire dust straight for Rosetta. Her eyes widened in shock as she dove out of the way, the last projectile clipping her, searing her. She grimaced in pain as she stared at Weiss who was charging forward with renewed confidence. As she got near she gave a quick slash which was quickly intercepted. They continued to clash, sparks and dust flying everywhere until Weiss called upon a glyph under Rosettas feet stopping her retreat, her eyes widened at her sudden inability to move as Weiss gave a long slash down her front, red dust blazing causing Rosetta to cry out. She managed to move her shield back into position to block the next attack as Weiss continued to turn on the heat. Blows were parried and blocked, Rosetta had been severely weakened and it was finally starting to show. The fire dust having its desired effect on her as it seemed to do more damage to her than normal. Their swords clashed again and again until finally Weiss managed to get a glancing blow on her arm causing her to flinch. In a flash Weiss slashed straight down the middle and fiercely stabbed Rosetta square in the chest knocking her down to the ground.

"Rosetta Marshall is OUT!" Oobleck cried out over the speakers.

Weiss gave a satisfied huff but before she could reveal too much in her victory she turned and ran to where Yang and Blake were fighting.

Blake was officially having a bad time, she had figured out how to not get hit yes but getting in a hit. Blake was dashing around and making gratuitous use of her clones allowing them to take the hit and attempt to disorient Selena, the only problem was she never seemed to stop swinging, her after images making it extremely hard to find an opening to attack and for now she was completely on the defensive, if she tried to drop back and fire off a few shots Selena instantly rushed her giving her absolutely no breathing room. She ducked under Selena's swing and dashed forward certain that she wasn't going to get hit as she slashed out with Gambol Shroud and its sheath in an X formation. Selena was quicker however, managing to jump back with Blake's blades just barely grazing her. She readied herself again, the smile back on her face. Blake grimaced, unsure if she was actually going to be able to beat her by herself. Her eyes flicked up to the screen however when Oobleck called out that Rosetta was out, she breathed a sigh of relief that help would be on its way hopefully. Her moment of rest was cut short however as Selena began her assault once again.

Nyami was currently ruthlessly punching and clawing Yang's face as she had managed to wrap her legs around Yang's waist. Yang was trying to pry Nyami off of her at the same time blocking what she could, the area around her heating up more and more as Nyami continued to hit her. Suddenly a black glyph appeared behind Nyami and forcefully pulled her off, slamming her into the ground. Quick to realize what had happened Yang went for a punishing blow while she was still on the ground Nyami quickly flipped over backwards and crouched looking over at the new opponent.

"How's it going." Weiss asked.

"Im sure you could see for yourself...thanks for the help." Yang replied

"I think you should keep charging up your semblance with her while I help Blake, i have a pretty good idea on how to beat Selena quickly."

"Got it. Make it quick though she's annoying to deal with."

Weiss gave a small smile. "You got it." as she ran off.

Sighing she turned back to Nyami who was watching Weiss runoff.

"Hey! Over here Nyami i'm your oppo-OOf!" Yang was promptly cut off as Nyami dashed in at high speeds and slammed into her causing both of them to tumble across the arena.

Blake had just managed to deflect another slash when she heard "Checkmate!" call out behind her. Instantly she used a clone and jumped off towards Selena and forced her blade into the ground and held it there. Weiss landed beside her and gave a fierce stab square in the center of Selena's chest. As she staggered backwards clutching her chest. Blake was satisfied in finally seeing an attack finally land on her. Selena righted herself and looked at the two. She sighed and stood in a defensive stance.

"I know how to beat her." Weiss said quietly.

"Seriously? Do tell. She certainly has given me a beating." Blake said

"The dust, remember? They have elemental affinities once we figure out their chosen element we can use the opposing dust. Its how I managed to beat Rosetta."

'Well that's great and all but do we actually know what element they are?"

"Even without the plenty of fights we have seen them in, they don't exactly make it hard to figure out their element. Selena is...ice and water, Ciara is fire, and Rosetta was earth, the only one i'm not entirely sure about yet is Nyami. So, to deal with Selena. She spun the cylinder again stopping it on yellow. We simply shock her with our skills."

Despite the situation Blake face palmed and gave a long suffering sigh, Weiss, this is not the time nor was that any good please don't try to do that, just leave it to Yang." She switched her clips on Gambol Shroud putting in the special dust rounds that Weiss had given her making sure to pick the yellow dust rounds. Selena narrowed her eyes at the two standing in front of as they tensed up preparing to attack. Weiss gave the opening attack, lunging forward the yellow dust that was now coating her blade. Selena knocked her strike up with a quick slash of her own and turned in time to push away Blake who was coming for a strike to her back. Selena started to move faster and faster making it harder and harder to figure out which sword was the after image and what sword was the real thing. They continued to push their attack however trying to force their way through her guard. Selena continued to gracefully spin around parrying their blows and generally being extremely hard to hit. Blake suddenly had an idea and dashed in quickly going for an uppercut with her sheath, however just before she struck she activated her semblance and jumped away. Just as she had planned it Selena had cut right through it without any hesitation, however this time instead of dissipating it blew up in a shower of lightning. The force of the explosion made Selena cry out and stagger backwards. Weiss immediately capitalized on Blake's opening stabbing her multiple time and ending with a hard slash, sparks flying off with each hit. Selena cried out once more before slashing out in a horizontal arc causing Blake and Weiss to jump back to avoid getting hit. "Nyami!" she called out.

Weiss smirked confident that no aid would be coming to Selena any time soon as Yang was keeping her busy. Blake charged forward again, now confident she had the ability to take on Selena, especially now with Weiss fighting with her she jumped high into the air and slashed downward, as Selena parried the blow and threw her away Blake created a clone at the last second which the after image hit causing the clone to shower her in lightning again, she fell to the ground this time as Weiss created a glyph to boost her forward once again giving quick slashes. Shouting Selena blocked Weiss's next by catching her hand. Selena's face was now very unhappy looking as she shifted her hold on the blade and brought the pummel straight into Weiss's stomach. As she was trying to recover her breath Selena gave a very strong kick that sent her flying away. She then turned to Blake and charged her blade flying through the air in graceful arcs quickly, breaking Blake's guard extremely quick,

Blake felt like she had been hit by fifty swords at the same time when in reality it was only three actual swings from her sword. The after images doing a lot more damage than she had previously assumed. Selena was now completely serious as Blake and Weiss regrouped, no trace of a small could be found on her face. She suddenly bent over however and over her came Nyami flying in from out of nowhere. Blake reacting faster than Weiss managed to dive out of the way avoiding sharp claws that would have torn her up. Weiss however wasn't so lucky Nyami impacting Weiss with her boots delivering a high speed drop kick. Weiss let out a solid Oof sound as she went down she slid along the floor for a bit before being stopped by Yang. As she picked her up Yang said. "Sorry she got away from me, she's obnoxiously fast." Flames were flickering off her a clear sign that her semblance had gathered more than enough power.

Blake joined them as they stared down the now rejoined Nyami and Selena before Weiss asked. "I don't suppose any of you know where the hell Ruby went."

The sound of leaves rustling heavily drew their attention to the forest area. When suddenly the tell tale sign of Crescent Rose being fired came out of the forest and multiple trees fell.

"Well...that answers that question." Blake said. "For now...we have the advantage let's get rid of these two. I'm just about out of yellow dust though."

Selena narrowed her eyes at the three girls in front of her before speaking. "Nyami are you ready?"

"N'yes!"

"Alright, go."

Nyami gave a smug smirk at the three girls before saying "Zoom Zoom!" and instantly dashed forward with incredible speed. She moved so fast she was in Blake's face before any of them could react. Blakes eyes widened as Nyami seemed to flicker and vanish from sight as she felt claws hit her stomach and chest. She was sent flying backwards only to get hit from behind arresting her momentum and then clawed all the way down her back effectively slamming her into the ground. As she hit the ground all the breath left Blake as she coughed out.

"Blake Belladonna is OUT!" Oobleck cried out once more.

Yang and Weiss could only stare in shock as Blake eviscerated in a matter of seconds by what looked like nothing but air. Instantly their guard was up and they scanned the surrounding area looking for any signs of Nyami.

"And the last hidden semblance has been revealed in this fight! Nyami has the ability to turn herself completely invisible for a limited time. However if used properly it can be quite devastating as we just saw." Port boomed.

Selena charged forwards grabbing the attention of the two girls, as they raised to block her slash they suddenly found their weapons knocked aside from an unseen force. Selena then getting in a clean horizontal cut clean across both of their waist. They jumped back and repositioned when Weiss suddenly cried out jerking in random directions. Yang began to run over to here when Selena's blade came flying into her line of sight again, thinking quickly she rolled under the attack and threw a fullpower blind punch near Weiss where she thought Nyami was, the feeling of her gauntlet hitting flesh was a satisfying one as she quickly unloaded a shot with her punch. A personless cry sounded out as they could hear someone hitting the ground Nyami had finally flickered back into existence as she picked herself off the ground.

"Thanks Yang." Weiss said breathing heavily. "Dammit RUBY WE NEED YOU OVER HERE." She shouted before blocking Selena's strike. If it was hard to get through Selena's guard before it was impossible now, not only was she extremely skilled and held both of them off with ease now Nyami was flipping over her and under her clipping Weiss and Yang or making them stumble or breaking their guard completely. Her small stature making it incredibly easy to slip around Selena and avoid her blade all the while attacking. Yang and Weiss were starting to lose all the momentum they had built up as the dust couldn't connect with Selena.

Ruby propelled herself backwards using the kick from Crescent Rose to continue boosting her through the tree line, Ciara nearly on her heels jumping from tree branch to tree branch. Ruby reversed her grip on Crescent Rose and hooked it onto a tree her momentum swinging her all the way around right as Ciara reached her she dropped her foot right onto Ciara's head dropping her straight to the ground. Ciara recovered quickly and swung her scythe, cleaving the tree in two causing Ruby to lose her balance. As the tree fell Ciara jumped up and kicked Ruby into the ground quickly following up with a slash from her scythe, the blade cutting deep into the earth as it hit Ruby she tumbled to a stop before picking herself up and clashing handles with Ciara once again. Once Ciara had started to overpower her she blinked away again causing Ciara to lose balance, as she stumbled forward she got a clean hit on her back.

Ruby knew she couldn't keep using her semblance much longer, she was reaching her limit. As they prepared to charge each other once more Ruby faintly heard Weiss calling out for her although she might have imagined it. She doubted she had imagined it when Ciara seemingly randomly repositioned herself between Ruby and the middle of the arena. Now certain Weiss and Yang needed her help she cursed herself for forgetting the plan and selfishly went after her own rivalry, letting herself get baited like this. She tried to figure out a way around Ciara without using too much of her semblance. She frowned as only one thought really came to mind, sighing in resignation she charged Ciara once more getting in close where both of their scythes would be effectively useless. Unsurprisingly Ciara quickly overpowered her and tripped Ruby as she fell she delivered a fierce kick to her stomach, Ruby was expecting that however and blocked the block before it sent her flying. She righted herself right as she hit the tree and pushed off with all her might and a small burst of her semblance. Rose Petals followed her as she flew across the stage like a red rocket, flying straight for Selena who was currently slashing Yang into ribbons. Right before she hit Selena she held out her scythe behind her and flew past, catching Selena in the hook, she let out a gasp of surprise as she was suddenly yanked away from the fight and Ruby spun with all her might firing her gun at the same time to give her more force and threw Selena as far as she could. Her momentum and extra force sending her clear past the lava zone until she actually hit the forcefield protecting the audience.

"Selena Marshall RINGOUT!" Oobleck cried.

Ruby straightened herself and stabbed her scythe into the ground, her cape flowing behind her. "Sorry i'm late guys."

"You utter DOLT, what were you thinking taking on Ciara by yourself like that, i'm surprised you didn't get knocked out." Weiss scolded.

"Well, I had to use my semblance a lot and i'm not sure I can keep up that kind of speed much longer, but more importantly let's get rid of Nyami before Ciara gets here. She glanced over at the wooded area and saw Ciara quickly closing the gap between them. "Weiss! Ice shards! Slow her down anyway you can."

"Okay but be careful, I can't find any dust that effects Nyami so your own your own." Weiss then tuned and summoned an array of glyphs all directed at Ciara, she then let loose a volley of ice directly at the girl. Weiss allowing some of her pent up anger at the girl flow through as the ice storm steadily increased in volume, As the ice began to pelt Ciara she let out a cry and began to take evasive maneuvers blocking what she could with her scythe and attempting to dodge the rest. With Ciara being kept busy Ruby and Yang both charged Nyami together. Yang swung high as Ruby swung low, Nyami jumped up and positioned herself just so both strikes missed her as she landed on one hand and pushed off kicking Ruby backwards. Yang let out a cry of rage as she threw one more punch towards Nyami, her semblance blazing, Yang new it would take her out easy. However right before her fist connected a bell rang out loud and clear despite all the cheering in arena. As her fist connected with Nyami the ground around them cracked spider webbing in all directions. Nyami however, was still standing. Infact she had managed to stop Yangs attack with one hand. Yang stared in shock as she met Nyami's eyes, Nyami smirked at her before throwing her hand to the side and spun in a circle to kick Yang right in the head. As Yang was disoriented Nyami once again slashed at Yang with her claws knocking her down to the ground.

"Yang Xiao Long is OUT!"

Ruby hurriedly retreated to where Weiss was. "We got trouble."

"Yea! No duh genius." Weiss snapped, looking drained.

"I think there's only one way for us to win this now."

"I would love to know."

"We gotta use Time Lapse."

"Ruby...do you even have the energy left to do that?"

Ruby choked up her grip on Crescent Rose. "We are about to find out."

"Hmp...only you would willingly try a desperate plan like that when we are already so tired."

"Its our last shot, Weiss! Time Lapse!"

Weiss brought Myrtenaster to her face and a golden glyph that resembled a clock appeared around Ruby's feet. Ruby glowed gold for a second before speaking. "Whoa! I FEEL AWESOME!

Weiss dropped her arms in exhaustion. "That's good cause I won't be able to use any gly-AAH!"

Weiss was cut off as suddenly she was tackled by a flaming wolf, it enveloped her in flames briefly before fading away.

"Weiss Schnee is OUT!

Ruby turned in shock as Ciara smugly walked up, her wolf reappearing at her side.

Ruby gritted her teeth then took a deep breath. She activated her semblance one more time and practically vanished, the only thing letting them know she had even been standing there was a single floating rose petal. Ruby reappeared right in front of Ciara, her scythe held high as Ciara's face changed from smug to shocked. Ruby brought her blade down quickly the tip catching Ciara square in the back and the rest on her head, She was slammed into the ground fiercely as dust went up from the impact. Nyami tried to retaliate but before she could make contact Ruby vanished again appearing a few feet away from her.

"Ciara Marshall OUT!"

Ruby studied Nyami once more, unwilling to be caught in a position like Yang had, she didn't want to get locked into a long fight with her seeing as she was nearly spent. Instead she collapsed Crescent Rose and put it on her back and took a sprinter's stance. Confused Nyami dropped her guard for a second and Ruby took her chance and took off, moving so fast she was practically invisible. She ran right past Nyami just barely clipping her with her cape and slid to a stop. The force of her stopping created a huge ditch as she slid along the flood and behind her the ice mountain cracked. For a moment everything was still until a massive gust of wind finally caught up with Ruby, It lifted Nyami straight off her feet and sent her flying towards the ice mountain, when she slammed into it the mountain completely shattered, burying Nyami in ice.

Ruby collapsed to her arms and knees gasping heavily, the arena was dead silent for a moment before Oobleck and Port called out at the same time. "Nyami Marshall is out! Team RWBY WINS!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Okkay this took way long than it should have to make. Slight writers block aside I just got a job so on top of school that means even less time to write. But as always I will at least attempted to stay on scheduled not that ive been doing a good job anyway. Also let it be known I am not good at describing clothes... As always however please enjoy, leave a review or whatever.**

Chapter 15: Well Earned Victory

"Team RWBY WINS!" The crowd was dead silent for a moment before the entire arena erupted into cheers and applause. Ruby rolled over breathing heavily as she listened to the cheering, staring up into the sky in disbelief. "We...we did it, we won." She said to herself. She sat up struggling and she let out an incredulous giggle. "We actually won?!" Groaning behind her caught her attention as she saw Blake, Yang, and Weiss attempting to get up. Ruby staggered to her feet and walked over them and excitedly said. "Guys...Guys we did it!" she said laughing. "We won!"

"We actually won…" Blake muttered in disbelief. "That's almost too good to be true seeing as how badly i'm hurting right now." She leaned back and looked towards the sky. "Somehow...we pulled it off."

"Seriously." Weiss groaned with Blake. "I feel charbroiled right now."

"I've got the worst headache." Yang said chuckling before crushing Ruby in a hug. "I'm so proud of you sis, you really came in clutch for us."

"Thanks Yang but let me go!" Ruby said while trying to wiggle out of Yang's clutches. "It cause of Weiss's glyph that I was able to pull that off." She turned her head and beamed at Weiss who smiled back.

"Even so, it was your plan to begin with Ruby, you should give yourself more credit." Weiss said as she placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder reassuringly.

"It was quite the devious plan indeed." The voice caused them to turn around to see Ciara nonchalantly leaning on her scythe as she was joined by Rosetta and Selena could be seen walking calmly in the distance.

"You remembered our elemental weakness, you have my respect." Rosetta said as she nodded her head in their direction.

"Thank you but that was all Weiss." Ruby said

Rosetta turned to Weiss with a small smile. "Hmm very intelligent indeed, I wonder how strong you will grow when you are older.

"Would the staff clear the battlefield so we can start the next match as soon as possible?" Oobleck said over the microphone.

All the sudden a group of people came out of the bay doors and began to rush around picking up the debri of the mountain of ice Ruby caused to collapse and the fallen trees as well as restoring the ground Ruby and torn up in her mad dash. As the cleared out more and more ice Nyami was finally revealed as she managed to push the last block off of herself and popped up. "That was fun!" she said with a giggle as she skidded over to their side. "That was very fun! I can we do it again?!"

Team RWBY let out a nervous chuckle. Yang said. "Maybe next time Nyami heh."

Whatever Nyami was about to say was cut off as the officials began to usher and herd the two teams off of the field.

Tobias smiled as he watched the two teams from the announcer's booth. He had gotten a tablet that displayed his team's "aura levels" and controlled them with the dial. As Port and Oobleck practically yelled in his ear.

"Well if that wasn't a match for the ages then I Don't know what would be! Simply stupendous teamwork and strategies on both sides."

Thats for sure Barty! The way they trusted their teammates to carry on the fight by opening up their guard was simply fabulous to watch."

As they continued to talk about the match someone sat down next to Tobias. Ozpin had taken a sit next to him, hiding a small smile behind his cup as he took a drink.

"Never would have pegged you for the gloating type." Tobias said with a smirk.

"I'm not, my students do the gloating for me so I don't have to."

"Well, I suppose you were right they are plenty capable of handling themselves. But they have to get much much stronger."

"I agree, that's why they are here, to grow as warriors as well as people."

Stretching Tobias said. "Well I better regroup with my units or it will get very crowded in here very quick, see you later professor."

"Indeed, please continue to enjoy the festivities."

"Oh don't worry, I will."

"So, Cinder what do you think?" Mercury asked as he leaned back and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"There is certainly more to them than meets the eye, they were most certainly holding back but i'm not sure how exactly. We will look into this another time however we have more important things to prepare for, like our upcoming match. Mercury and Emerald smirked. "Might be a bit more exciting if there were any actual challenges to go up against." Mercury said.

"Now now, you've had all the fun socializing with your new friends when poor Neo here has been forced to lay low." Cinder gestured over to the black haired girl who smirked at them. Her eyes shifting colors from green to brown.

Tobias was waiting by the entrance of the arena as the two teams came out, as they pushed through the sea of people congratulating them for a well deserved win or an excellent fight. When they finally grouped together Tobias greeted them with a large smile. "Congrats on the win guys, i'm honestly surprised you remembered the elemental advantage."

"Haha, yea we probably would have been done for if it weren't for the dust." Yang said rubbing the back of her head. "I do have some questions however, mainly concerning Nyami."

"Oh? Whats up?"

"Well I want to know how she stopped my punch.. She didn't flinch of falter or budge an inch, I packed nearly everything into that and it didn't even phase her. How?"

"Well, Nyami has a special item that grants her an additional strength. In this case it's the bells she has on her pony tail. They allow her to negate nearly all forms of damage occasionally."

"What the hell? Thats insane. Can I try?"

"Sadly no, they only work on her. They were given to her specifically so only she can use the properties in them."

"Oh…"

"That reminds me, since we were the opening match do you have anything to do?"

"No we don't, we were probably going to head to the dorms and rest up."

"I see, well we were probably going to catch a few more fights and then head to the festival grounds but let us walk you to the airship."

"Quite the gentleman I see." Yang said teasingly.

"You know it." Tobias said winking back.

"Well then." Blake said stepping forward. "Shall we? I'm rather tired and the sooner we get to the dorm the better."

Yang playfully put her arm around Blake's neck. "Daww is Blake ready for a catnap?

Blake glared at Yang before putting an elbow into her side. "Not funny."

Clutching her side Yang groaned out. "Owww okay okay i'm sorry, cmon Blake it was a joke."

"Yes, a distasteful one. You know I can't stand jokes like that."

"I know, i'm sorry…can you forgive me?" Yang said while staring at Blake with the look of a kicked puppy.

Blake remained impassive while they walked until Yang dashed in front of her, staring Blake dead in the face with that same look on her face. "Pleaseeee?"

Blake's eye twitched before she looked away, her cheeks slightly flushed. "Fine, but just this once.

Yang beamed at her and quickly wrapped her up in a hug as she nuzzled Blake's cheek with hers. Causing Blake to turn a light shade of pink and go ramrod straight. "Okay I get it how let me down." Blake said, there was a hitch in her voice for a second but it was practically unnoticeable.

They waited for the airship there was playful banter all around, team RWBY's spirit still high from their victory and the occasional tease from Tobias. The airship finally arrived and Tobias turned around. "Alright, i'll see you guys later."

He began to walk off before a voice called out and stopped him. "Aha! There you are summoner!"

Tobias turned around and saw Melina beaming at him. "I have something to show you!" She said stepping off the ship. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a square device and tossed it over to him. Tobias's face instantly lit up in excitement and elation. "Melina! You found it, great job! But where did you find it?"

"It was in a warehouse of some kind. It seems like the people there were trying to figure out how it worked."

Tobias walked forward and wrapped Melina in a hug. "This is excellent, great job Melina."

With a look of smug satisfaction she looked over Tobias's shoulder and at his other units. "Of course, only be best results for my summoner."

Yang was decently sure if Tobias had not been in the way one of them would have swung at Melina. They looked incredibly displeased at the attention she was getting.

Tobias turned around and spoke quickly. "Well as much as I want to see the rest of the festival I need to report in, they probably are panicking or something. Would you guys mind meeting some of my friends?"

"Not at all, by all means join us." Yang said as they boarded the airship.

As they entered the room Tobias was already fiddling with the cube like device. He pressed a button on the bottom of it and it gave out a quick beep. He set it on the floor and said "Calling Lin, Lin come in, summoner Tobias aka Phobic calling in."

After a few moments of silence a buzzing sound could be heard from the cube until finally the cube opened up and a projection of a green haired girl in a white blouse appeared. "Oh my gods Tobias! Where have you been, you've been dark for weeks!" she said relief clear in her voice. "What world are you even in right now the signal is horrid and Tilith can't find you."

"Well for one this whole thing is Tilith's fault for dumping me here without a care in the world. Also i'm in a world called Remnant the reason I haven't checked in is because I lost the communicator for a while, sorry to worry you. But is Seria or Elder Grah there or Tilith?"

Lin pouted. "What you don't want to talk to me?"

Tobias deadpanned. "You know that's not what I meant. Can you please just tell me if one of them are around?"

Sighing Lin typed something out on the screen in front of her before speaking. "Seria is actually out in the frontier hunting for us, she should be done shortly."

Tobias nodded. "Grah or Tilith?"

"Elder Grahdens is currently out on an excursion with Elder Owen. and i've just sent Tilith and Seria a message.

Not five seconds after she said that did a sudden light appear to the left of Lin, distorting her image. "TOBIASSSSSSSSS I WAS SO WORRIED!" another girl cried out, her hair multiple shades of light blue purple and pink, she had bright blue eyes with various pieces of jewelry adorning her person. She wore a bright green short dress that had white as the main color and long flowing sleeves.

"Really…? You sure didnt have a problem leaving me here without a second thought." Tobias deadpanned, staring straight at Tilith.

"Tobiassssss." She whined. "I was sooo tired, but that's no excuse for just going dark like that! You can't scare your poor beautiful goddess like that! Especially since I couldn't find that world again, what have you been doing there anyway?"

"Well, I've been doing resear-"

"WHERE IS THAT DUMBASS!" a very angry voice shouted. A woman with long black hair with a flower pendant keeping it up in a ponytail stormed into view. "TOBAIS, Where in gods name have you been! Why haven't you been checking in. I swear when you get back i'm going to beat you to a pulp."

"If i could get a chance to explain myself." Tobias said sighing.

A low whistle caught his attention however. "Didn't know you were into that kinda thing Tobias." Yang called out, a devious smirk on her face."

"Shut it Yang." Tobias said glaring in her direction.

"Yang? Who's that?" Tilith questioned.

Tobias shifted the cube slightly so team RWBY were now face to face with the three girls. "Oh? Hello." Tilith said.

"Yang, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, this is Lin my operator and close friend. She gives me the information I need when I go on quest and usually dependable."

Lin blushed a bit and looked at the ground before looking back up. "Wait what do you mean by usually!"

Ignoring her Tobias continued. "This is Tilith, my goddess, she entrusted me with saving the world as well as protecting her."

"Don't forget it's because you're a wonderful person! My favored summoner!" Tilith said beaming "It's truly one of the greatest honors to have to be chosen by me!"

"She is also lazy and has no sense no duty what so ever which is why I was stranded here in the first place."

"How many times do I have to say sorry!" she cried.

"And that is Seria, my...friend?" he said unsurely.

Seria Glowered at him. "And just what exactly, is that suppose to mean."

"I'm not sure you tell me, i'm not the one who wants to beat me to a pulp."

"Well someone's gotta beat the lesson through that thick skull of yours."

"anyway...Seria was with me all throughout my quest to stop gods from destroying our world, so id trust her with most things, although she has anger issues like you Yang."

"Excuse me!?" She cried out indignantly. She was about to say something else when she stopped and narrowed her eyes. Where are you right now anyway?"

"Ah yes, I was getting to that. Right now i'm in a place called Beacon academy, it's a school where they train this world's warriors from creatures called grimm. Ill spare you the full story as I have most the the information recorded down so when I get back i'll share it."

"Okay...that's great and all but WHERE are you?" she asked shrewdly

"I'm in their dorm room. Why?"

All three girls were completely silent as they stared at him.

"What? whats wrong?"

"Well. it seems you're fine where you are, we don't need you for anything so just stay there as long as you like. Seria? Tilith?" Lin said flatly.

"Mhm." Tilth chimed in.

"Yea, since he's so comfortable there maybe he can die there and we won't have to worry about it." Seria said.

Their images flickered and disappeared. Leaving a very confused Tobias staring into blank space.

"I'm...not to sure what to say." Tobias said as he turned back to the girls.

Yang had an absolutely devious grin on her face as she spoke. "Quite the lady killer aren't ya Tobias."


	16. Chapter 16

**Well. Its been a while and im truly sorry about that. Combo of work and school bs as well as a bit of writers block had me struggling on this chapter. So i tried to make it a bit longer than usual so yea. I said before that i suck at describing clothes and all that and you know what i go and do? I make a chapter about this bs so yea im sorry to any fashion people out there. I also have a question that I wanted to ask. I would need multiple people to be supportive of it but would you guys like it if i carried this story on to vol 4 and 5 and all that? So just some food for thought let me know if you dont or dont. As always reviews are appreciated and please enjoy the story. (PS so im an idiot and just now figured out how to do the horizontal line thing for scene breaks. I am so sorry for the issue of flow i couldnt not figure it out for the life of me but now i have.**

Chapter 16: Festivities

"Quite the lady killer aren't ya Tobias." Yang said smirking.

Tobias grimaced at her. "I've got no idea what you are talking about. They're always like that."

"Ohohoh? Quite the player eh?"

Tobias blushed a light shade of red before stiffly replying. "We are teammates and co-workers, nothing more and nothing less. It's my duty and honor to protect Tillith and the friends I make along my journey is just a bonus."

"Mhm…." Yang hummed out a look of skepticism on her face. She was about to say something else when there was knocking on the door. She walked over to open it revealing Jaune and the rest of team JNPR.

"Hey guys!" Jaune said as he waved past Yang. "We came by to congratulate you all on an incredible fight, that was one for the history books no doubt."

Yang smirked. "You know it, the oh so invincible units beaten down by first years."

Tobias laughed from across the room. "If I let them run around at their full strength you guys wouldn't even last a minute. Remember your wonderful meeting with Ciara?"

"Krantz let us in on a little secret about our encounter with Ciara actually, I have no doubt we could take her on if she isn't under the influence of that ultimate brave burst or whatever it is called." Weiss said.

"Yea! She couldn't keep up if she tried." Ruby said grabbing Weiss in a backwards hug together we are unstoppable."

"Oh? Then maybe one of these days we will have to put that confidence to the test." Tobias said with a sly grin.

"Whoa whoa guys, before you start another fight we wanted to make sure you guys got the schedule for the fights as well as the events for the festival. They are wrapping of the last fight of the day right now so after that it's nothing but festivities and then the ball tonight." Jaune said waving his scroll around.

Weiss's eyes widened. "I can't believe I completely forgot about the Vytal Ball! Oh my goodness I have nothing to wear!"

"Weiss...don't you have like twenty different fancy dresses…?" Ruby asked.

Weiss snapped her head in Ruby's direction. "Don't be ridiculous, those dresses are not meant for balls in anyway shape or form." She then grabbed Ruby's hand and began to drag her towards the door. "Come with me right now. We are going to Vale and getting dresses right this instant."

"W-wait! Weiss! I was just going to wear the dress I used for the first ball!" Ruby cried as she struggled to escape Weiss's grasp.

"Are you out of your mind?! A girl wearing a dress twice to events so close together is absolutely unacceptable." Her voice faded down the hallway as she continued to drag Ruby away.

Everyone stared at the now empty doorway as Ruby's complaints and Weiss's scolding finally disappeared from earshot.

Yang cleared her throat. "Well then. I dunno Blake you wana head down to Vale and rent a dress for ball, then we can enjoy the fairgrounds eh? We can take bumblebee."

"Sure, It wouldn't hurt, I have some things I need to pick up in town anyway if you don't mind chauffeuring me a little."

Yang slung an arm over her shoulder. "My pleasure Blakey! Lets go so we can get back as soon as possible." They started for the door before Yang stopped. "Oh...Tobias you would need a tux or something as well wouldn't you? And your ah...units...since all competitors are required to show up."

Tobias looked up from his communicator. "Huh? Oh don't worry about me, I got it."

"Okay then...I'll take your word for it."

"Yea, I just gotta make a few calls."

The communicator opened up into a matrix of strange symbols as Tobias began to press random buttons and sliding symbols around. However an ooooh caught his attention. He turned around started for a second before he realized team JNPR had never actually left the room.

"Oh! Jeez. you guys startled me, I forgot you were here sorry."

"Oh no we're sorry. We should have left when everyone else did but that cube thing is rather interesting.

"Yea this is my communicator. It allows me to move my supplies and get things as well as check in with some of my friends and things." He pressed a large symbol in the middle before the matrix disappeared and the cube closed up into a compact version. "Now ill I have to do is wait. Hopefully my supplies won't take too long."

"I see. Well, seeing as team RWBY are all busy would you like to accompany us around the fairgrounds?"

"Oh yea! Well have a blast! Come with us Tobias!" Nora nearly shouted.

"I'd love to." Tobias said. "Melina, come to me."

The room lit up briefly before Melina reappeared.

"I hope you guys don't mind if she joins us, I need her to tell me about some things."

"Not at all." Pyrrha said shaking her head. "The more the merrier."

"Aww summoner! If you wanted to take me on a date to court me just say so!" Melina said jumping on Tobias's back.

Tobias stumbled forward before sighing. "You really gotta stop saying things like that, you are going to cause misunderstandings."

Melina merely replied with a giggle before whispering into Tobias's ear. "That Mercury boy and the Emerald girl seem to have close ties with that group of people I saw at the rally. Also the Cinder girl seems to have been commanding them. Or at least directing them. There were two leaders as far as I could tell, Cinder and a man with red hair with bull horns. They had schematics of the school but as for what they were planning i'm not sure. They had mechs and they were moving a lot of boxes into airships but they did seem rather hostile but that may have been my fault…"

Tobias turned his head so he was looking at Melina. "What did you do…"

"I...well...MAY have killed one of his men…"

"...why…"

"He interrupted me while I was getting your communicator."

"I am one hundred percent sure there was another way of dealing with that." Tobias sighed. "Whatever I guess… what's done is done. Thank you Melina." Tobias glanced around the hallways satisfied that aside from team JNPR they were empty. "You're dismissed." Melina instantly burst into multicolored lights and disappeared.

"You okay Tobias? What happened with Melina." Pyrrha asked.

"Oh it's nothing. Just some estranged tactics that aren't necessary all the time that Melina loves."

"I can only imagine." Ren says, eyeing Tobias critically

Unsure if Ren had actually managed to hear Melina or not simply stared Ren down keeping a passive face. Eventually Ren seemed to let it go and went back to correcting Nora's wild stories.

* * *

"You'll never guess who I just saw hanging out with our favorite person of interest ." Mercury drawled out.

"Oh? And who might that be." Cinder said as she continued to sew.

"Remember that little girl that Adam told us about that escaped the rally after killing one of Adam's men? It seems like she has an awful close relationship with Tobias."

"Oh? Now that's VERY interesting to hear…" Cinder set down her sewing needle. "What was that boy's story? He was required to accompany his siblings in order to learn first hand what it means to be a hunter correct?"

"That's what they tell everyone yes." Emerald piped up."

A sly smile graced Cinder's face. "Well, this boy has been a point of interest for far longer than anyone normal should be." Her eyes began to glow as she looked over at Mercury. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I do believe one of my dances is going to be spoken for."

* * *

Tobias stared at the now broken bell lying at his feet while Nora was laughing maniacally and walking past the stunned carnie in order to retrieve her prize. Ren was furiously apologizing while Jaune and Pyrrha laughed.

"M-maybe we shouldn't let Nora play the test your strength games." Pyrrha managed to get out in between chuckles.

"Haha, that seems like the only way to beat these carnies at their own game though." Jaune said with a smile. Nora skipped back to them with Ren in tow while holding a giant stuffed bear of some kind.

"Come on come on! We have time for one more ride before we have to go get ready let's get to it!

"Alright Nora, which ride do you want to go on?" Ren asked exasperatedly.

Nora eyed the surrounding area for a few moments before her eyes landed on the ride that spun everyone in a circle and used the g-force to keep them pinned against the wall as it lifted up and twisted and turned at crazy angles. "Ooh that one! That one! The uhhh Vortex!"

Jaune's eyes shank a little as he looked at the ride in question. "Uh you know what. Im really tired so i'll just wait out side of the line for you guys. Yea…"

Just as Jaune tried to turn and walk over to the seats he was grabbed by Nora. "Don't be silly Jaune! This is team JNPR and Tobias bonding time we all gotta do it!" she began to drag Jaune over, much to his dismay.

As the operator strapped them all in Jaune nervously said. "A-are you sure these things are safe? They don't look very secure."

The operator stopped and looked at Jaune for a second before chuckling and stepping off the platform.

The ride lifted up and began to spin as everyone began to laugh or scream in excitement as it got faster and faster until finally it hit its maximum speed, then it began to tilt the screaming intensified. Maniacal laughter sounded out once again over all the screams as Nora had unbuckled herself and was now standing straight up on the platform where she was supposed to have her back on she put her hands straight up like she was on a roller coaster screaming. "WEE!" as ride continued.

The ride didn't last much longer, as it began to slow down Nora resecured herself into the metal sheet so she would fall. As it finally flattened out and stopped various riders stumbled around, slightly dizzy from the ride. Jaune however rushed out of the ride as fast as possible, stumbling a little. Slowly everyone began to trickle out and they found Jaune leaning by a trash can. Pyrrha put an arm over his shoulder and asked. "Are you okay?"

Jaune nodded before climbing to his feet shakily. "Im good...Im good" He hung on to Pyrrha for a moment longer to steady himself. "Thanks."

"My pleasure Jaune." Pyrrha said smiling at him.

"Allright! Who's ready to get their groove on!" Nora said pumping her fist excitedly.

"You have...way too much energy." Tobias said.

"Can't help it! I'm just made of energy!" She giggled and began to skip ahead once more, leading everyone back to the dormitories.

A small buzz from Tobias's pocket caught his attention as he smiled. "Just in time."

"What's in time?" Pyrrha asked.

"You'll see."

As they reached the dorms Pyrrha knocked on team RWBYs' door to see if they had made it back yet. The muffled shout of "Girls only!" informed everyone they were. Pyrrha cried back. "We are getting our dresses! We will be back in a second."

"OK!" came the muffled reply.

As everyone piled into team JNPR's room Tobias re-summoned team CNRS and pulled out his communicator

"So I know you said you had it covered but how exactly?" Jaune asked Tobias.

Instead of answering Tobias brought up a matrix of symbols again and dragged multiple items into a small box in the corner of the display. He then pressed the button and the device made a small humming noise before shining brightly. When the light cleared Tobias was holding a tuxedo in one hand and four different colored dresses in the other. He looked up and smiled at everyone "This is how."

"Well that thing is certainly useful...I don't suppose it has snacks as well?" Jaune asked.

"I mean. Yea if I need some snacks I can put them inside."

He turned to his units and began passing out the dresses. Ciara got a long dress that reached down to her ankles that had a decently long slit up the side of the legs. It was a deep sanguine color.

Nyami's dress was a simple all black short dress that had a choker designed into it.

Rosetta's short dress was a emerald color that had white frill around the chest area as well as at the end of the sleeves.

Selena had another long dress but this one had a crystal like design to it with various crystal like drops adorning the chest area downward. It was a blue almost purple like in color but still noticeably blue.

"Okay you four follow Nora and Pyrrha and get changed. Nora and Pyrrha walked out of the closet with dresses in hand. Nora came out with a bright pink dress that had sequins on the lower half while Pyrrha had a deep red and gold long dress.

"We'll see you gentlemen in a few." Pyrrha talked as they walked out the door

An hour later the girls were ready and they knocked on the door to let the guys know they were ready to go. As the guys opened the door they were greeted with ten very beautiful looking women. Ruby had kept her normal color scheme, wearing a grey and red dress with sequins on the sleeves. Weiss was on her arm wearing a long white dress with blue accents, she had silver earrings on as well as her apple necklace, Yang was wearing an incredibly bright yellow dress that had frills at the bottom of it. Blake had a dark purple dress with a slit running up her leg, she changed the color of her bow as well to match the dress. Tobias Ren and Jaune all bowed their heads slightly as Ren spoke up. "You all look lovely tonight."

As they girls gave their thanks and returned compliments Yang spoke up. "So no dress this time Jaune?"

Tobias gave Jaune a look to which he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, not this time. I asked first instead of assuming!"

Yang walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Atta boy Jaune."

Pyrrha giggled before speaking. "Well then shall we go?"

As they set off Tobias's units walked up to him and Selena spoke first. "It has been...so very long since i've worn a dress.. For an occasion such as this. It's rather...nice to do these kinds of things again."

"Agreed...I suppose." Rosetta chimed in as she looked at her dress in a contemplative fashion.

"Well if anything i'm glad you guys are enjoying yourselves." Tobias said with a smile as her put his arms around them. Now, it's a dance! So let's go have some fun."

The dance hall was moderately dark, enough to give mood lighting but not dark enough for any illicit activities to go by unseen. The band that was playing currently was fast, the participants bobbing back and forth to the beat as best they could in their fancy clothes. Ruby was dragged off by Weiss again as Ruby stumbled and tripped every few seconds, unable to keep her balance in the heels she was wearing. As everyone began to spread out around the dance either going to stand off to the side and socialize or onto the dance floor. Tobias was walking around and keeping a slight eye on his units, only slightly worried they might start trouble. Selena was talking to a girl with purple hair that was combed over to one side more than the other. Ciara and Nyami stuck near each other as there seemed to be a group of faunus that were animatedly talking to them although Nyami was shying behind Ciara they didn't seem to mind. The only one who didn't seem to manage to mingle was Rosetta whenever someone came up to socialize, usually guys, she quickly shot them down. Smiling softly to himself he began to make his way over to her before the loudspeakers went off causing everyone to look towards the stage. Ozpin stood on the stage with a microphone in his hand as he cleared his throat for a second. "I will keep this short so we can go back to celebrating festivities as soon as possible. I would just like to thank everyone for attending this year's Vytal ball and I would like to thank all of this years competitors. Please do try your very best to win and make this one of the most exciting tournaments in history." With that he bowed his head and began to walk off stage, he signaled the band once more and they began to play a slower song.

Tobias walked up to Rosetta as they song began and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

Her eyes lit up. "It would be my pleasure summoner." She took his hand and they walked off to the dance floor together. They waltz around for a while before Tobias spoke up. "You know this is a social event, people are going to try to talk to you all night."

Rosetta frowned. "Im aware...you know how I feel about humans that aren't you summoner."

Tobias chuckled. "I'm all too aware, but how about this, just to with Selena and piggyback off of her conversations so you don't have to deal with a bunch of humans?"

Rosetta huffed. "She's not much better and you know it."

They continued to spin around the dance floor when suddenly Tobias felt a lot of eyes on them. He glanced around and noticed Selena subtly staring at them both, getting an idea of where the stares were coming from he nonchalantly glanced over at Ciara and Nyami. Nyami was practically staring holes into them both while Ciara was leering at them both the other faunus beside them all but forgotten.

Rosetta had noticed the stares as well and stepped forward and tightened her grip on Tobias.

Tobias gave an exasperated chuckle and increased the pace of their waltz as he led Rosetta closer and closer to Selena until finally Tobias gently released Rosetta and sent her spinning towards Selena. She glanced back frowning at him but he simply smiled in return. As she got near Selena, Selena looked over and glowered slightly at Rosetta who responded with a smug smirk. Selena turned around quickly and introduced Rosetta to who she was talking to and Tobias stifled a chuckle as he watched their interactions.

A tap on his shoulder however had him turning around and he found himself looking slightly up into the face of an incredibly beautiful woman in a sparkling black dress that had glass like design on the leg.

Bright amber eyes stared back into dark brown as Tobias looked stunned. "Hello." the woman said in a sultry voice.

"H-h-hello. Can I ask who you are?"

She let out a small laugh. "Perhaps, but only if you dance with me."

Recovering his wits Tobias cleared his throat. "It would be my pleasure." He stuck out his arm and the woman took it as he led them to the dance floor. As they wrapped their arms around each other she finally spoke. "My name is Cinder, and you are Tobias right?"

Tobias looked at her in shock before he schooled his face into one of plesant suprise. "Well, since you seem to know who I am may I have the pleasure of knowing how?"

She let out another sultry giggle. "Yes i'm afraid i've been rather busy with school work and such, but you know two of my teammates rather well, Emerald and Mercury.

"Ah.. yea. Those two are really friendly, we've talked a lot. "

"So i've heard. You're here in quite the interesting situation.

"U-uh. Yea. Some interesting family situations"

Cinder eyed him for a moment before smiling. "Well they are amazing hunters in training and if you are anything like them i'm sure you'll turn out great. They certainly gained popularity after this afternoon's match." Her eyes flicked up to look at Selena and Rosetta then looked back at Tobias. I am curious however...it seemed like they were...holding back perhaps?"

Tobias swallowed his suddenly dry throat. "No… They preformed to the best of their abilities, team RWBY just trumped them this time."

She smiled again. "Yes of course. There's just something….otherworldly about them."

Tobias tried to cover up his surprise with a hard cough. "Well haha yea...i guess, they are rather anti social unless it's with people they are familiar with so they seem kind of distance." He said quickly.

She watched him carefully before nodding to herself and placing a finger on his chest. "Well, not only are you an incredible dancer but it has simply been a treat finally meeting you. I do look forward to seeing you around."

As she turned around and began to walk away Tobias spoke up. "And it was nice to finally meet the more elusive side of Merc and Emeralds team."

She glanced back and gave a small smile before disappearing into the crowd.

As Tobias watched her walk away he loosened his tie slightly and released a deep breath. "What's she playing at…"

"Working your magic here too Tobias? Have you no heart for the women already around you?" Yang said jokingly in his ear as she grabbed him roughly around the shoulder.

"Would you stop that. It was just a dance." Tobias protested.

"Mhm...I was watching, and i'm pretty sure people who are "just dancing" don't stare at each other like you and her were."

"We weren't staring like anything...it's called having a conversation."

"Whatever you say. Anyway I wanted to introduce you to a few more people." She gestured behind her and Blake came up with a blond boy with a loose fitting tux that revealed a good portion of his chest and stomach and a monkey tail and another far more dressed boy with blue hair. "This is Sun and Neptune." Blake said as Neptune stuck out his hand in greeting while Sun just said. "Sup dude its nice to meet you."

"Its nice to meet you as well."

"So you're the younger sibling of team CNRS right?" Neptune asked.

"Yea, I am."

Thats cool man, those guys are crazy good, so are you like training under them?"

"Something like that yea. Special circumstances."

"I get ya. Sometimes parents can get a little crazy with rules."

"Yea…you can say that again."

"Well then Tobias. Let's go dance!" Yang said. "I saw you dancing with Rosetta and that girl so show me what you got!" she grabbed Tobias and dragged him to the dance floor, Blake Sun and Neptune right at their heels.

* * *

As the night went on guest slowly began to exit the building ready to call it a night and prepare for the next day. Cinder was in her dorm room with Emerald and Mercury as she looked out the window she saw team RWBY JNPR and CNRS all exit the building. "I almost forgot to ask, how was your dance Cinder."

She glanced back at Mercury lounging on the bed. "It was...interesting. But Mercury do me a favor...add Tobias to the list, let's see if we can't bend him in our direction i'm sure she would be very interesting in him. Mercury smirked. "As you wish."


	17. Chapter 17

**Thats another chapter down! So, for all intent and purpose I will be treating Nyami like a mock unit because technically in the story/raidbattle thing none of them have been confirmed dead. Aside from that...nothing really new. As all ways let me know what you think and please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 17: Festivities Part 2

For once, everyone was lounging in Tobias's room, they had just came back from team CNRS's second match for the tournament. This match had been a complete wipe however, the students from Haven didn't stand half a chance against them so the match was quickly and decisively ended. Tobias however was growing exhausted from leaving his units out for so long, so Now he was resting on his bed while team RWBY and JNPR sat and quietly talked. It was peaceful and relaxing as Tobias slowly drifting off deeper and deeper to sleep. Ren Pyrrha and Jaune were playing a card game, Nora and Yang were quietly gossiping, Blake was propped up in one of the corners reading a book while Ruby and Weiss were looking out the window.

Yang looked over at Ruby and spoke. "Y'know, Rubes I was looking at our schedule and we don't have our next match until the end of the week, why don't you take this time and go back home and visit for a bit. Its that time of year anyway isn't it?"

Ruby turned from the window she was looking at to stare at Yang. "O-oh...yea I guess it is huh. That's not a bad idea actually. It'll be like a good luck charm as well." She pulled out her scroll and started to swipe swiftly through it. "Hmm theres an early flight tomorrow morning. I think i'll go on that one. But don't you want to come Yang?"

"Nah, i've already gone and seen everyone." Yang said.

"What?!" Ruby practically shouted startling Tobias as he shot up with a snort. "When?"

Tobias glanced around tiredly before collapsing back on his pillow again.

"Eh, it was a while back I didn't tell you because Weiss had you under her whip studying for the midterms." she said winking.

With a small blush Ruby cried out. "Yaaaang!"

A small cough sounded out behind them as the sisters turned their attention to the slightly pink Weiss. "Firstly, that is wholly inappropriate Yang." She then turned her full attention to Ruby. "And secondly...where are you going?"

"Huh? Oh! I'm going back home to Patch to see my dad and...mom."

"Oh, well if cant wont join you, I would be glad to come along." Weiss said.

"Ah...well, this is a trip i'd rather do alone or with family Weiss... Not that I don't want to spend time with you! I just…" Ruby trailed off as her face fell slightly.

"Don't worry about it too much Princess." Yang said as she came over and draped an arm over Weiss. "Its just a little family bonding time, it's not like she's cheating on you or anything she will be back in a couple of days." As she talked she gave Weiss a pointed look that told her to drop it.

"I see. Don't never mind then Ruby, Ill help you pack."

Ruby smiled and gave Yang a meaningful look as she had relief written all over her face. "Yea but we can worry about it later! For now let's just relax."

"Agreed." A tired voice range out. "Now could you guys be a bit quieter? Trying to sleep I have another match tomorrow and I have to make sure I can actually summon." Tobias mumbled out.

"Ahah. Sorry." Ruby called out quietly.

* * *

The brisk morning air was being whipped around the field as the airship started up. Ruby had her backpack stuffed with whatever she needed for the few days she would be away. "Ill tell dad you said hi when I get there. You texted him last night to make sure he knows i'm coming right?

"I did indeed sis, he will be waiting for you at the airport. Say hi to mom as well for me will ya?"

Ruby gave a small sad smile. "Yea, I will. I'll see you guys at the end of the week!" Ruby held out her hands in front of her and gave them each a hug. Weiss refusing to let go at first, when Weiss finally released Ruby from the hug she captured her in. "Weiss it's alright, i'll be back by the end of the week, I don't know why you're freaking out so much."

Weiss stared searchingly into her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Weiss, Im fine really! It's just family stuff."

"I see. Well, you don't want to miss your flight dolt. Get going."

Ruby beamed at them once again. "Alrighty guys I'll see you later!" She waved as she walked into the ship.

They stayed on the airstrip until her ship flew off. Weiss turned to Yang. "What is her problem?"

Yang glanced over at Weiss. "What do you mean?"

"She was acting weird and sad."

"Oh, she always gets like that when she goes to see her mom."

"Are they not on good terms?"

"No, Ruby loved her mom she just died when she was little unfortunately. Even after all these years it's still a touchy subject for her."

"O-oh... I see…"

"Like I said." Yang said looking out over the cliff. "Don't worry about it, she'll talk about it when she's ready…" Yang gave a yawn. "Well it's early so let's get back to bed so we can wake up and watch Tobias's match. She started to walk back leaving Blake and Weiss to stare at her back. Weiss said to Blake."Did...you know anything about that?"

"I knew a little." Blake admitted. "Yang talked briefly about it when I was obsessing over the White Fang. If you want to know more you'll probably have to talk to her about it."

A little disheartened to hear that she was the last to hear of this Weiss spoke. "Oh…"

A hand on her shoulder made her look up to Blake as she spoke. "I know you've been hearing this a lot all the sudden but Yang's right. Don't think about it too much, the only reason she told me was to snap me out of my self destructive habits."

Weiss smiled up at Blake. "You're probably right. Thanks Blake."

Blake gave a small smile and turned. "That's what friends are for."

* * *

"Team CNRS win! Another outstanding victory for them, it seems after their defeat in the opening round they are on a warpath to redeem themselves!" The giant screen flicked on to show some of the highlights of the match. It displayed the team from Vacuo getting a vicious flank attack on Selena breaking her unrelenting flow as their archer rained an unending storm of dust tipped arrows. It had looked like the match would have ended right then and there if not for Nyami breaking through the arrows and taking out the archer. As Nyami quickly dealt with the archer ceasing the painful shower Rosetta slashed her blade out in a wide arc causing flower petals to appear. Then as she thrusted forward towards the remaining three, the camera caught her mouth moving but what she said nobody but team RWBY JNPR and Tobias knew. The petals instantly flew towards the three and began to shred through any defense they tried to put up, midway through the flowery onslaught Selena and Ciara jumped through the petals and cut them down, causing flashes of light to appear at random. As the remaining petals dissipated Selena and Ciara were already walking back towards the gates the three remaining opponents at their feet.

The crowds cheering was deafening. After the first round team CNRS and RWBY had gained massive popularity because of the tremendous skill they exhibited. However since team RWBY hasn't been on the field since numerous people have been flocking to team CNRS whether it be fan boys or girls or business men and women looking for sponsorships and other contracts. All around the school after the first fight had some boy try to confess their "love" of "affection" for one of the girls and even some girls came. Or it would be contractors looking for find information about them in order to ask about if they would sponsor their product or whatever the case was. While it was fine and all and the units turned any and all admirers or contractors away with little to no problem because they were being forced into social situations it was obvious it was slowly getting to them. It's not as if they were incapable of communicating more so the fact that they had not formally communicated with other humans for so long other than their summoner so as more and more people tried to talk to them the more agitated they became. The most extreme case happened about an hour after the match. They were walking around the fairgrounds with the remaining team RWBY and team JNPR when a girl tried to grab Nyami from behind and attempt to do who knows what with her. This cause the small girl to squeal and panic which in turn caused Ciara who just happened to be the closest to her to spin around quickly and nearly take off the poor girl's head. If the girl hadn't been a fighting Ciara very well might had. Thankfully Tobias came quickly and diffused the situation, once the crowd was successfully dispersed Blake looked over at the four and semi jokingly said. "Man you guys are worse at social situations than Ruby or I am."

Rosetta replied with a ice cold stare and said. "Aside from Nyami, we three died fighting and chose to continue to fight on even in death. Human social events mean very little to us now and unless instructed by our summoner will not partake in it if given a choice. Battle is now ingrained in our very being so you must excuse us for not being too sociable anymore."

"A-ah…" Blake weakly replied.

A stage cough cut through the awkward silence as Yang spoke up. "Yea...I guess if you've been fighting for as long as you have some parts of you would fade more than others…But relaxing is important as well, so do you EVER put away your weapons?"

The four gave Yang a look like she had suddenly gone bald and grown a third eye.

"This is the legendary blade Lexida, I would never just put it down. It stays with me at all times."

Selena said.

Rosetta put her hand on the pommel of her sword. "And run the risk of being attacked suddenly out of the blue like Nyami was just now? Never."

Nyami raised her giant paw gauntlets up and the blades shot in and out of them quickly. "Claws...Retract."

Ciara simply moved her hand in front of her and after a second her scythe literally flew out in front of her, hovering on nothing. "I cast a spell over my weapon so it looks like I don't have it, but it always stays close." as she said that she flicked her hand in intricate patterns and her blade flew off in perfect synch, narrowly weaving in and out of people with them none the wiser. Finally she flicked her hand straight up and it flew up above them a few feet and stayed there then flickered and vanished from sight.

"Yea...you aren't going to get anywhere with these guys." Tobias said. "It's just who they are now unfortunately."

Yang let out a sigh. "Well, no one can say I didn't try! Let's go have some fun then."

Everyone let out a voice of agreement as they all walked deeper into the fairgrounds.


	18. Chapter 18

**Alright! Finally got this chapter out. If it seems jumpy its because it is I am not going to literally rewrite all the things that happened in vol 3 of RWBY you can go watch the show for that I am far too lazy. Aside from that...if you have any questions comments or whatever dont hesitate to review or whatever. As always enjoy the story!**

Chapter 18: Family Bonds

The rest of the week went by incredibly fast. Tobias got the chance to hang out with more than just team RWBY and JNPR, as they went around the fairgrounds they caught up with people like Sun and Neptune and even some random students who just wanted to hang out and have fun. One peculiar girl named Penny came around every now and then however asking where Ruby was. Once she learned that Ruby was visiting her home she was disappointed at first but then began to accompany them around the fairgrounds before a rather uptight girl dressed in blue came and dragged her off. The rest of the week went like that without any hassles or problems popping up.

* * *

Now at the end of the week they were waiting at the airfield in the late morning waiting for Ruby's ship to come in. As the ship landed and opened the bay doors a stream of people came pouring out, competitors returning from the city or spectators eager to get a good look at the action. Finally a singular point of red appeared in the sea of people. As Ruby was pushing her way through the crowd Yang nearly plowed everyone out of the way to reach her sister. As they met in the middle Yang wrapped her up in a big hug. "Heya sis! How was your trip."

"It...was good...now please let me down...you're crushing me." Ruby managed to get out.

"Oh ahah sorry sis." Yang set her down only for Ruby to be grabbed a moment later by Weiss, who gave her a quick peck on the cheek and smiled at her. "I trust you are feeling better and ready to win?"

Ruby grinned at her and said. "You know it! Let's go for a perfect streak!"

"Yea! We got our hardest fight out of the way anyway." Yang said.

"You aren't kidding about that…" Blake said. "I just hope we don't have to go against them again in the doubles or singles… but that's wishful thinking isnt it."

"Well at the very least one of us will be fighting them in the one versus one matches." Weiss said.

Blake let out a sigh. "That's a rather...foreboding thought.

Ruby, sensing the fighting spirit begin to wither quickly said. "Well! Lets not think about the future right now. Let's worry about what's right in front of us and who is right in front of us!"

Yang looked at Ruby with a large grin. "Yea your right! We got this in the bag!"

* * *

Team Ruby wins! That was another incredible display of skill from team RWBY. They have indeed proven themselves a force to be reckoned with. However they are not the only teams to be keeping an eye on today! We have a fierce lineup of competitors all ready to show what their made of.

Tobias was walking down the aisle as team RWBY appeared at the exit of the arena. He waved to get their attention. "Hey guys! That was some impressive fighting out there. Interesting tactic with the bow as well.

"Thanks a bunch! Although to be honest here, none of these matches even come close to our match. And we have to watch everyone else fight today too!" Yang said.

"Well I would expect so. But anyway who else is fighting today?" Tobias asked.

"Its team JNPR and SSSN are also fighting today as well!"

"Oh I didn't realize that. When are their matches?"

"Well team JNPR will be starting soon so before that we should get something to eat!"

"Oh that sounds good, I am pretty hungry actually.

"Awesome, so go get your team and we can head off!" Yang said.

Tobias raised an eyebrow at her. "There right." as he spoke he turned around. "There…"

There was no one behind him and he glanced around with surprise. "Uh...I thought they were right behind me… I'll go find them... Go on ahead we'll catch up. As he turned around to walk back into the stadium they could hear him mutter to himself. "Now where would they have gone…?"

* * *

"If you don't mind me asking. Who taught you all how to fight? You all definitely show skill beyond your years." Cinder said with a small smile as she took a step forward. You all have incredible skills and I would absolutely love to get to know you all better. Before Cinder could take another step forward a cool hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder, stopping her. Selena had a slightly strained smile on her face. "As much as we would love to talk to you about all of this we really need to go. Our su-" She gave a sudden hard cough. "Sibling is waiting for us." Selena stepped around Cinder and began to walk towards the exit, everyone else following.

"Ah yes...Tobias...your...brother? It's a very interesting situation you all have surrounding yourselves. I do hope you are careful in the future...I would had to see such bright flames get snuffed out." Cinder said. A slightly threatening undertone. Selena and Ciara glanced back at Cinder as they continued to walk away. Their eyes blazed with an unreadable emotion but they remained silent as they walked off.

Cinder stared at them as they walked off quickly she narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she felt briefly an immense power that emanated from them. It felt similar to the maiden's power almost. "Interesting…" she said softly to herself as she began to walk away.

Selena led the way quickly her normally pleasant smile replaced by an icy stare that made everyone quick to get out of their way. Ciara sped up her walk to get beside Selena, a taunting smile on her face. "Oh my did the girl get under the skin of everyone's favorite ice queen?"

Selena glanced over at Ciara in annoyance. "Not even close. However i'm surprised a creature like yourself didn't sense it before I did."

"Oh? Her magic or whatever it was? I would have but for one it felt incomplete, like it wasn't all there so it was harder for me to pick up. Also that was the first time i've ever been so close to her. Our queen here just loves to talk after all. She steals most of the conversations from us."

Selena scoffed. "It's not my fault that you are all unsociable. Frankly I expect more from Rosetta but you two are completely useless when it comes to social situations."

"Throughout my life i've found that action spoke louder than words."

"Hmp. Whatever you say. Communication among a few other things are what separate us from animals. Not that you would know." Before Ciara could speak again Selena cut her off. "Summoner is waiting for us, we shouldn't keep him waiting."

They rounded the corner re-entering the stands and saw Tobias glancing around the area looking through the crowd.

"Sum- err…Tobias!" Ciara called out.

Tobias turned and smiled as he recognized who called him. He met them halfway and asked. "Where did you guys run off too? Finally found some people worth talking too?"

Selena gave a small smile. "Not exactly, we were dragged into a conversation with Cinder, which you should know seems to have some form of magic that is different from everyone's semblance."

"What? What do you mean?" Tobias asked.

"She has some supernatural power." Ciara chimed in. "It seems to be incomplete however, very faint and weak at the moment."

"Thats interesting...I wasn't aware magic existed in this world. Ill ask Ozpin next time I get the chance I suppose. In the meantime though we gotta catch up to team RWBY to meet for lunch before the rest of matches start. Was there anything else you needed to tell me?"

"No, aside from that they were simply being themselves."

"I see. Well, we can worry about that later I suppose. Let's go eat."

* * *

After a while of searching around the fairgrounds Tobias finally found team RWBY eating at a noodle store accompanied by team JNPR. Tobias walked up greeting everyone before turning to Pyrrha. "I thought you guys were fighting really soon? Is it smart to be eating so much?"

"Of course! It will give us energy for the battle."

Tobias glanced at Jaune who was face down groaning. "You say that but…"

"Would team JNPR please report to the arena, like they were SUPPOSE to five minutes ago?"

Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other for a second before they began to scramble off towards the arena.

Team RWBY and CNRS just watched them scamper off before team RWBY slowly began to follow after. Tobias calling out that he was going to grab some food before he came back.

Metal clashing on metal rang out through the arena as Jaune blocked another blow. He and Pyrrha were protecting Nora and Ren as they steadily retreated as the sniper continued to fire at them.

"Man Jaune really has improved huh." Ruby said.

"Yea he certainly has. But Pyrrha is just killin it right now." Yang said.

Jaune continued to call out to his teammates directing them, his strategies very effective in breaking apart the enemy allowing Ren and Nora to get in close and do some serious damage.

As the fight continued Nora's semblance was revealed after one of the boys tried to electrocute her, the aftermath of that was not pretty however. After that Jaune had Nora make a mad dash for the mountain top where there just happened to be a lightning storm occurring.

"She controls electricity to make herself stronger? Thats pretty cool." Tobias said.

"Yea it's why she's so freakishly strong for someone so small."

Lightning crackled all around Nora as she let loose a huge wave of explosives raining down on the sniper who just barely managed to dive out of the way before the tree she was sniping from was completely wiped out. Both teams managed to regroup with each other in the aftermath of the explosion. Jaune called out something that sounded like Flower Power but everyone gave him confused looks. They stood in a circle and were discussing something very important while the enemy team stared at them in half amazement and half confusion. Jaune was talking about something very animatedly while the rest of

them stared at him as he gestured wildly.

"What...is he doing…" Blake said.

"I don't know…" Ruby said. "He said flower power I think? Maybe he's trying to do team attacks?"

"Yea but usually team attacks imply that they know what's going on...I don't think the rest of them got the message." Blake said.

Before anyone else could say anything a loud, "HEY!" cut across the arena. Causing Jaune to stop his speech and glance over. Jaune and the other leader began to bicker before Pyrrha whispered something to Jaune causing him to look up and seemed to remember where he was exactly. Appropriately embarrassed he covered his face with his sword for a moment before speaking to Nora.

Even from the stands Nora's maniac grin was visible as the enemy team took a step back nervously.

Nora lept forward explosively and gave a devastating blow that hit all four of them knocking them all out of the arena.

"Team JNPR WINS!...can someone make sure they're okay?" Port called out.

Tobias leaned back giving a small laugh. "Well...that sure was something. If we ever get the chance I want to try something with Nora, that semblance is really cool."

After they met back up with team JNPR and congratulated them for the victory they all watched the rest of the matches of the day together. There were many good matches, some were complete wipeouts, especially Cinder's team they completely dominated the opposing team, Cinder and the black haired girl in particular were exceptionally skilled seemingly breaking little to no sweat at all. There were also the completely ridiculous matches. Team SSSN's fight had Yang and Tobias in stitches half the match, while they were very good fighters the sheer fact that Neptune was afraid of water was laughable and then he went and made the match unnecessarily hard for the rest of his team. In the end however they managed to win. Stifling her giggles at Sun and Neptune's victory dance Yang managed to get out. "Cmon, let's go congratulate those dorks on winning.

They all got up and began to walk out of the stadium heading for the contenders entrance. Weiss however stopped moving and was staring into the sky causing Ruby to bump into her and Tobias to stop suddenly.

"Weiss? What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Winter…" was all she said before she began to run off in the opposite direction.

"Wha? Weiss! Wait!" Ruby called out before giving chase.

Tobias watched the two run off before following at a much slower pace, curious as to what could have possible made Weiss act so weird.

When Tobias finally found the two again Ruby and Weiss were surrounded by armed robots and were talking to a tall young woman with white hair. The close he got the more defined she became. She wore a white and dress suit with an and a buttoned coat. She looked related to Weiss, but far more curvy. Aside from hair and the obvious distant uptight demeanour that Tobias could see from where he was and her eyes that's where the resemblance ended. The woman gestured forward and the robots all took a step back, she and Weiss began to walk down the courtyard is Ruby flailed around attempting to make an appropriate gesture. She ended up saluting them both as they walked away. Raising an eyebrow Tobias caught her attention motioned for her to come over. As she approached Tobias said. "What was...all of that?"

"Oh! You saw that ahah...Well that's Weiss's sister Winter and she was acting all proper and stuff so I thought I should do the same and then I remembered I don't have a lot of practice with that kind of stuff so it ended up looking like that and yeaa…"

Tobias stared at her for a moment before looking back past her. Something very out of the ordinary caught his eye. A man with black graying hair wearing a tattered red cloak stumbling around behind the robots. He was clearly drunk but with the way he was walking he obviously had some goal in mind as he slowly but surely caught up to the robotic procession. Tobias's eyes widened as the man grabbed the last two robots and quickly ripped both of their heads off, He proceeded to kick one of the robots heads towards Weiss and her sister as he shouted. "Hey!"

Both the sisters turned around to look at the man. The man staggered for a second before continuing. "Yea i'm talkin to you, Ice Queen."

At that Weiss began to stomp forward getting in the man's face as she shouted. "Excuse me? Do you have any idea who you are talking too?!"

The man looked at her for a moment before putting a finger on her lips in a silencing motion and pushing her away. "Shshhhhhhhhh...Not you…" He glanced up at Winter. "You…"

As the two began to talk Tobias leaned over to Ruby and spoke. "You may want to get over there. He glanced up and saw that Winter had pulled out her sword. "Quickly…"

Ruby squinted at the man's back before shaking her head and running over to where Weiss was.

"If you don't hold your tongue, then I will gladly take it!" Winter said.

The man pushed his bangs away from his eyes as he smirked at her. "Okay...come take it."

Winter stood completely still for a moment before flying forward in the blink of an eye. Attempting to stab the man in the eye which he easily dodged. She continued to stab at him as he bobbed and weaved past her attacks before bending over, she slashed downwards only to be met with a metallic clang. With a flourish the man pulled out a large sword from behind his back and held it in a seemingly mocking stance in front of Winter. His previous intoxication no longer found in his movements. He touched the tip of his sword to Winters for a moment before suddenly swinging forward powerfully, forcing Winter to jump backwards. The man continued to push his advantage as their blades clashed again and again sending sparks everywhere. Faintly through the fighting and cheering he heard Ruby scream out "THAT'S MY UNCLE QROW! KICK HER BUTT UNCLE!"

They were fighting with incredible speed as they dashed back and forth in and out of each other's blades. Winter finally managed to dodge a slash from Qrow and quickly hit him in the face with the pommel of her sword. Qrow barely flinched in immediately raised his sword high in the air and brought it down in a earth shattering blow that sent debris everywhere. Winter however was no longer in that spot however she was standing off to the side over some guard rails. Qrow gave her no time to recover and instantly blitzed her as he leaped over the rails cutting straight through a pole which she quickly dodged.

As Tobias watched the fight he couldn't help but be impressed with the strength and skills of what he assumed to be full blown hunters. Their speed and strength far greater than any student at the school without the use of their semblances. A particularly harsh clash of metal rang out as Winter and Qrow slammed into the ground once more shattering the concrete, they quickly got up and crossed blades only for Qrow to be pushed back by Winter who was now wielding two blades instead of one. Spinning her blades she put the smaller sword back into her large one and stabbed the ground. Instantly a large glyph that looked like Weiss's appeared and hundreds of white birds came flying out and converged on Qrow. Qrow slashed at the birds trying to reduce their numbers until finally he quickly lashed out with his word and sent what looked like a projected version of his slash towards Winter, cutting straight through her glyph and forcing her to dodge to the side. She got up and gave a murderous glare which was met with Qrow's smug smirk. A large glyph appeared behind Winter as she crouched down. Qrow gave her an amused glance and flicked a switch on his sword. It instantly began to expand, mechanical clicking as it lengthened and shifted over to the side. Before it could finish however Qrow canceled the transformation and put his sword behind his back again then held out his arms in a taunting fashion. Winter gave a shout and launched her self with incredible speed, so fast in almost matched Ruby's semblance Winter was just a blur and right before she impacted Qrow another voice shouted out. "SCHNEE!"

Winter instantly stopped, the tip of her blade an inch away from Qrow's throat

"What is the meaning of this." A large man with black and gray hair in a all white Military uniform. He had a glove on one hand as he quickly marched up to Winter.

"General Ironwood! Sir!" Winter said in shock.

"What are you two doing." He asked.

"He started the altercation." Winter began before she got cut off by Qrow. "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

"...Is that right…" Ironwood said as he looked at Winter sternly.

"I...yes sir…" Winter said looking down.

"And you…" Ironwood said looking at Qrow now.

Qrow looked over Winter shoulder as he pointed at himself mouthing 'me?'

"What are you doing here." he said as he began to talk in a hushed whisper getting closer to the two.

"I could be asking you the same question, Jimmy." Qrow said, not caring to whisper at all.

Before Ironwood could say anything more Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch came and broke up the scene. Ironwood called Winter over and they left without another word as Qrow stood smirking at their retreating figures. He let out a small "oof!" however as he was suddenly impacted by a red blur.

"UNCLE QROWWW! DID YA MISS ME? DID YA?"

He stared at Ruby for a moment before smiling and replying. "Nope."

"Ohh! It's so good to see you! I have so many things tell you we've had all kinds of adventures and we've meet all kinds of interesting people! Like him!" Ruby pointed at Tobias who looked back in surprise. Qrow's smiled faded as he looked Tobias up and down, his eyes intense as he stared. Before he could say anything Ozpin's voice rang out. "Qrow, a word please."

He glanced down at Ruby smiling again. "I think i'm in trouble…"

"I mean you did kinda destroy our courtyard."

At that his smiled turned into a smirk. "Yea, I did. Catch ya later kid." he ruffled Ruby's hair and began to walk to Ozpin giving Tobias one final curious glance before they left.


	19. Chapter 19

**Wow this took a while to finally make. My apologies to everyone for taking so long with it. Just some simple things I want to point out in the chapter. Mercury's weapon is at least i THINK it is just shotgun boots but i dont really know. Aside from that nothing really new to say other than lemme know what you think and as always please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 19: Doubles

Qrow gave a low whistle as the screen went pure yellow, enveloping the woman and giant beast in a gigantic lightning storm. The video shook and shuddered for a moment before cutting to static. He looked up at Ozpin and said. "And you're sure they aren't dangerous to us? I don't know how i feel about something with that much destructive power sitting right in the middle of the school, or the arena for that fact.

"I know you're worried Qrow but I spoke to him when he first arrived. And seeing as he has been harmless this entire time it is safe to say he means none of us any harm." Qrow let out a sigh as he turned back to the television screen that was now displaying the tournament fight. Nyami and Selena vs some Atlas students. They were absolutely wiping the floor with the Atlesian duo. Their military like training no match for the unorthodox fighting styles of the two. Selena deflected nearly every attack they threw at her then Nyami would come crashing in from the side. Qrow turned his attention back to Ozpin. "You know Jimmy won't be happy once he find out you technically cheated. Ozpin simply took a sip from his cup. "Nonsense, you can see for yourself their strength is clearly at the same level as the students."

"Yes but their skill level on a far different level. Any practiced fighter with eyes can see that Oz."

Ozpin simply shrugged unperturbed. "It was a deal that benefited both parties. And from the looks of it Beacon winning the festival is going to be a bonus."

Qrow let out a snort as he turned around. "Alright Oz, whatever you say."

* * *

"So Weiss, you're from Atlas. What can we expect from these guys?" Yang asked as she adjusted her gauntlets.

"It's just as you saw from the earlier matches. Strict and perfectly rehearsed combos and military training. Nothing fla-" as she said that she was cut off as a literal rainbow flew past her face, blowing her hair into her eyes and mouth. Yang and Weiss stared in bewilderment as a faunus girl with bright colors for her clothes. A bright blue top and a pink skirt she had a rainbow tattoo on her arm and had her hair tied up in two pony tails. She grinned smugly and giggled at them as they stared at her in shock.

"Uhh...Weiss?" Yang whispered leaning over. "Are you sure they are from Atlas?

Before Weiss could respond however a voice called out. "You're Weiss Schee right? Schnee just company Schnee?"

Weiss turned away from Yang to look at the dark skinned boy with sunglasses on and a fedora with a blue stripe with a dark vest over a white shirt and striped dress pants. She smiled and gave a small curtsy. "Yes, I am it's nice to meet you." The smile however was not returned.

"Y'know... my father ran small dust shop...until your business forced him to shut it down." He frowned at her.

"O-oh...Im sorry…"

"Save it _**princess**_ _._ " He cut her off.

Yang stepped forward. "Hey why don't you-"

"Hey why don't you?" The faunus interrupted Yang.

The faunus shifted back and forth on her skates as she continued to talk to Yang. although it was more endless compliments and insults rather than an actual conversation until finally she said. "You know I could teach you how to rollerblade...although it might be a bit difficult because you're so… ya know... _ **top heavy**_ _._ "

Yang's eyes widened in shock. "What- excuse me!?" Before Yang could say anything else however the arena began to change shape and the various sections were established. Yang clenched her fist in anger as she glared at the two.

"Oh boy here we go…" Ruby said. As Blake looked over at her

"3..2..1..Begin!" Port called out to start the fight.

* * *

"It really was a great fight. They worked well together. And you guys did great as well!" Ruby said. As she half carried the soot covered Weiss. Yang kept walking, still slightly fuming. "I guess, doesn't mean they had to be so obnoxious about it." she let out a small huff and kept walking. When they got to the dorm room they opened the door only to be shocked to see someone already inside. Qrow was lounging on the floor in front of a TV screen as he mashed the buttons of a controller he looked up at the girls and simply said. "Hey. Good fight you two." Before continuing to play his game. Blake and Weiss both were on guard. "Who are you?" Blake asked before Yang jumped past her with Ruby hot on her heels. Together they tackled him as Yang said excitedly. "Hey uncle Qrow! I didn't know you were back!"

"Yea...Got done with my mission a bit early. But hey, that's more relaxation time for me."

"How did you even get in here. "Weiss asked.

"You left the window open." Qrow replied as he walked up to the game system and switched out games and pulled out an extra controller. "Anyone up for a round?"

"Ooo mememe!" Ruby said as she flashed over and grabbed the controller. "So, whats up uncle?"

He leaned back and said. "Ohh nothing, just saying some curiosity. As well as congratulating our firecracker and ice princess here for their win.

As the day went on Qrow Ruby and Yang played their game taking turns, however Qrow never lost either by some freak misclick or complete domination Qrow would always take the match. As they played Qrow talked to each of them and asked them harmless questions. He did ask a lot about Tobias however, as he was very curious as to what kind of place and what kind of things came from where he was from. Albeit a but wary of Tobias he was a very friendly person once he warmed up to everyone. Every now and then he would take a swig from his flask. Eventually Qrow got up and left the room but not before delivering some humbling and sound advice to team RWBY.

With team RWBY's spirits slightly dampened at Qrow's reality check and Tobias not really knowing what to say he got up and took his leave but before he walked out of the door he stopped and said. "While yes he is right it's okay, you guys are still just students and all of us are still pretty young and you know what they say. It only gets better with age."

The tournament was progressing smoothly. Team JNPR and RWBY kept up their hot streak of flawlessness and were truly shining. Team CNRS and CMEN kept up their devastating shows of superiority by crushing each and all of their opponents in the doubles. Talk of how team RWBY managed to luck out somehow during their fights started to spread but anyone who came to prove it was quickly shut down.

Finally the tournament was reaching its climax the single battles have everyone excited and the arena is packed. The best of the students were all lined up in the middle of the arena as the crowed cheered for their favored competitor. Yang and Pyrrha were standing next to each other, Yang smirking and waving encouraging the crowd while Pyrrha was more reserved. She seemed to be lost in thought. Selena was standing next to Mercury silently while Mercury just smirked up at the crowd. As Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port gave their introductions and explanations of the rules the Giant screens began to cycle through the combatants faces in order to choose the first round. "And the first round will be!" Oobleck said. "Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" he said as the screens stopped on the their pictures. "Would the non chosen combatants please step off the arena. As the arena was cleared Yang and Mercury both took stances across from each other. Some words were exchanged that left both of them with a fierce smirk on their faces. As the arena lifted into the air where it hovered there as the two slowly shuffled closer to each other until they touched hands. They stayed there until cried out. "Begin!"

It was a very close fight, both sides pushed to their very limit as they traded blow for blow shotgun gauntlets vs shotgun boots. At one point Yang had managed to blast him off the edge and it looked like the match was going to end but Mercury managed to right himself mid air and launch himself back upwards onto the stage using his boots. He instantly retaliated by shooting multiple blast into the air and redirecting all of them so they came crashing down onto Yang. For the second time that match it looked like it was decided until a burst of flame dispersed the dust as Yang came out screaming delivering three swift punches that quickly took Mercury's aura level out.

Yang pumped her first in the air in joy as the rest of the arena cheered as the arena slowly descended to the ground.

She said something to Mercury and began to walk past him, however once she got right next to him she suddenly stopped and turned around. After a second Yang suddenly threw a vicious punch right into Mercury's leg causing him the cry out in pain. A horrified gasp went threw the arena.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out as Blake and Weiss simply gasped. Tobias stood up, eyes wide. "What the hell?!" Nearly instantly the Atlesian robots came and surrounded Yang who was now looking around in bewilderment. She was gesturing at Mercury and shaking her head vehemently at whatever they were saying as professor Port and doctor Oobleck tried to calm the rest of the crowd down over the sound system. "The rest of the singles matches are cancelled for today! Everyone please leave the stadium in a calm and orderly fashion and come back tomorrow while we solve this problem.

* * *

"Team RWBY has officially be disqualified from the tournament." General Ironwood said as he stared at Yang. "Despite what you insist, everyone who was watching that fight saw what you did, and that simply cannot go unpunished...for what it's worth however I am sorry." He turned and left the room without another word. Leaving Yang with her face buried in her hands and the rest of team RWBY in silence. "You guys believe me right…?" The room was silent for a moment before Weiss spoke up. "I know you're...a brute at times but even you wouldn't just up and attack a person who is already down for absolutely no reason."

"Yea! No matter what sis i've got your back."

Blake however remained silent. Looking at the ground. Yang's eyes began to tear up as she quietly said. "Blake..?"

Blake looked up at Yang. "I once...had a partner. I trusted him and always followed his judgement but then… he began to change for the worse...we began to attack people. Innocent people and that's when I finally had enough. I ran away to escape the monster he became. So Yang...Look me in the eyes, and tell me that Mercury attacked you first."

Yang didn't falter. Staring straight back into Blake's eyes Yang said with conviction. "He attacked me first."

A while later a knock on the door brought the team out of their silence as they opened the door revealing Tobias and Qrow. "What a mess this is…" Tobias said.

"No kiddin. So firecracker why did you do it?" Qrow asked without hesitation, staring straight into her eyes.

"He attacked me first." She said again.

Qrow remained silent for a moment before snorting. "Well either that's one fancy magic trick he pulled back there or you're crazy. Either way...don't let it get you down. There's always the next three years."

"Magic…?" Tobias muttered to himself. "Hey you guys didn't happen to see where the rest of Mercury's team was during that did you?"

Blake spoke up. "They were sitting right behind us during the fight. They ran off as soon as it happened though."

"I see…Well, you guys take it easy and i'm sorry about what happened...If it makes you feel better ill win it for you guys." Tobias said trying to lighten up the mood.

Weiss let out a little sigh. "Thanks Tobias but I think we are kinda done with the festival this year."

"Yea I could imagine so…I'll see you guys around." Tobias and Qrow let the room leaving team RWBY feeling slightly better.


	20. Chapter 20

**Haha! I was on break so I had plenty of time to work on this so I managed to get it out pretty dam early in comparison to literally every other chapter.** **Before I go any further on it I just want to say thank you guys for reviewing and all that jazz. I was looking at a guest review it just really makes me happy. Aside from that he asked me if he could add me and for those who were also wondering if they could my friends list is full at the moment and I used all my gems trying to summon. So yea aside from that. Thank you for putting up with me and my writing and as always please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 20: The Fall

Despite the events that had taken place yesterday with team RWBY the next day people still came streaming in with excitement to see the end of the tournament. Of course people wanted to know what had become of team RWBY but General Ironwood simply said they were punished and no further action was required. The majority of people seemed fairly satisfied with that answer, the general having a good reputation for dishing out fair but strict punishments. Thankfully the one on one matches were going smoothly today and were progressing fairly quickly. There were two fighters left from Beacon one from Atlas two from Shade and one from Haven. Selena had just finished her match with an easy victory and now Tobias deemed that keeping his team out was not needed and was simply relaxing in the stands enjoying the tournament with Ruby, who was the only one who was still willing to watch after all that had happened. Team JNPR had also made themselves scarce but simply because Pyrrha was mentally preparing herself for her upcoming fight.

"Ladies and gentlemen we will be taking a short intermission between now and the rest of the final matches please use this time to enjoy the fairgrounds and please return by six tonight to see the rest of the matches." Doctor Oobleck said.

Tobias stood up and stretched, groaning as he did so. "So, we got some time did you want to do anything Ruby?"

"Umm actually i'm going to back to the dorms really quick and see how Yang is doing. Maybe find Blake and Weiss as well." She said. "But i'll be back before the matches start back up, Penny and Pyrrha still have to fight we gotta cheer them on!"

"Heh, alright i'll catch you later then." Tobias said as he walked towards the exit.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome back, we are slowly but surely beginning to wrap up this year's Vytal festival and if I do say so myself it is wrapping up to be one to go down in history. Now without further adieu let's find this rounds combatants!" Professor Port boomed. As the holo screens started to sift through the pictures of the remaining combatants Tobias looked around but didn't see any sight of Ruby.

"Hmm she's probably running late." he said to himself but looked up as the combatants were selected.

"Penny Polendia versus Pyrrha Nikos!"

Tobias grinned. "Oh man she is not going to want to miss this one tho." He pulled out the scroll they gave him and quickly sent Ruby a message. Putting away the scroll he quickly sat down and watched Penny and Pyrrha approach each other. Hes seen Pyrrha fight plenty and know just how skilled she is, but he hasn't seen Penny's matches but from what Ruby told him she is quite skilled as well.

"Begin!" Oobleck said Boomed.

Penny, who had multiple short swords that seemed to be controlled by wires instantly shot out blades towards Pyrrha who easily deflected them. Pyrrha instantly charged forwards closing the gap quickly in order to remove any advantage Penny held. Ruby's statement about Penny held true however as she was matching Pyrrha blow for blow and even forced her back. Pyrrha however managed to break through the sword wall and get a clean combo on Penny, knocking her up in the air and quickly following up to slam her back down again. Penny reacted quickly and launched a barrage of laser shots at Pyrrha sending her on the defensive again. Using her shield to block the shots Pyrrha got close enough to deliver a fierce stab into Penny who was sent flying backwards again. Penny flipped over and used her lasers to propel herself at Pyrrha knocking her away as she rolled to her feet two of Penny's swords came flying towards her knocking her sword and shield out of her hands. Pyrrha reached out to her sword to try and pull it back to her but it was quickly knocked down my Penny again. Penny repositioned her blades so they were all facing Pyrrha for the finishing blow and launched them forward. Pyrrha staggered back, fear clear on her face before she pushed out with both hands sending all the swords flying back at Penny. Penny suddenly doubled over as if she had been punched in the gut before her swords reached her, as soon as the blades reached her they wrapped around her and tore her into pieces.

Horrified gasp and screams were collectively heard throughout the arena before it went deathly silent.

Tobias could only stare in shock and horror at the girl who had been turned into quarters lying on the ground. Static cut through the air causing Tobias to jump before a sultry feminine voice cut through the air. "This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians but are, in reality nothing more than men."

Recognizing the voice Tobias's head whipped towards the loudspeaker as he glared at it. "What the hell!? Cinder?!" Tobias could only stare in anger as Cinder continued her dark speech. "So when the first shots are fired. Who do you think you can trust." static once again cut through the arena and all was silent again. A couple of seconds later multiple sirens started to go off and a robotic voice cut through the blaring alarms. "Alert. Incoming grim attack, threat level 9. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner." Instantly however people began to scream and run towards the airship docks. Tobias stood up in his chair in an effort to not get trampled until crashing sound made everyone look up. A giant Nevermore was pecking and jumping on the barrier in an attempt to get inside the arena. At the same time however General Ironwood spoke through the loudspeakers again. "Ladies and gentlemen please. There is no need for panic. He was suddenly cut off however.

Tobias was looking around frantically for Ruby or anyone he knew until his arm was suddenly and roughly grabbed. He looked down and saw one of the Atlesian soldiers pulling at his arm. "Come on kid, we gotta get you to safety. The hunters can take care of themselves."

Tugging back Tobias said. "What the. Hell no I gotta find Ruby and the others."

The soldier, obviously not listening or not caring enough to listen simply pulled harder and finally began to carry Tobias away fireman style. Tobias protesting all the way.

The soldier reached the air docks and roughly deposited Tobias on the ground before going to the edge and shouting. "Everyone can I please have your attention!" after a moment the docks quieted enough for the soldier to speak clearly. "We have airships on the way to come and drop you all off at the designated safe zones. Please remain calm and keep it orderly, women and children first and we will get all of you out of here safely."

Right on time five or so drop ships came floating up with more visible beneath them. Another large burly man came and forced Tobias to the front saying. "Cmon we gotta get you kids out of here."

Tobias tried to push him off. "God dammit i'm not that young and I need to get back there to help them!"

"You don't have a weapon kid and it doesn't look like you're a hunter. So you aren't going anywhere if your friends with a hunter i'm sure they can take care of themselves."

Tobias gritted his teeth as he continued to try and shake the man's grasp. The first airship docked and the soldier ran over and opened the door only to suddenly jerk backwards as blood began to pour out around the claws protruding from his chest. The soldier fell backwards, dislodging the claws with a disgusting shlick sound and a thud from the soldier hitting the floor. A moment of silence was broken by a woman's scream. That scream caused the huge beowolf to roar in response as it jumped out of the door, followed by three more smaller beowolves. The crowd of people staggered back as the beowolves slowly stalked forward snarling and growling. With the man's grip now weakened in shock Tobias ripped his arm out of his grip before shouting. "Lux Halcyon Atro GO!" A blinding light appeared and a form dashed out of it quickly before the wolves cried out. As the light cleared Atro stood over the three disintegrating bodies in all white and his sword blazing gold the glyph beneath him was glowing and giving off a green swirly aura as he looked back at Tobias. "At your service summoner." He said giving a small bow.

"Thanks Atro." Tobias closed his eyes. "Knight Of Holy Light Ark I summon you!"

Another glyph appeared on the ground and from this one a brown haired man wearing dark pants and a dark blue shirt covered in silver and gold armor with a blue cape flowing behind. Standing behind him was a woman with long blond hair and white angel wings dressed in a long red and white dress with frills at the sleeves and cuffs. The man stood facing Tobias as he brandished a long ornate black sword and a shorter gold and silver sword that both glew with blue flames the woman who held to orbs of blue light that had purple and gold in their centers. Ark glanced over at Atro as they stared at each other for a moment. Atro gave a small smile before saying. "We are fighting on the same this time right Ark?"

Ark in turn gave a smile back. "Wouldn't want it any other way Atro. And I know i've said before but...i'm sorry."

"And has I, Selena, Eze, and Lance have said many times before. Apology accepted. Now then summoner, what do you need us to do."

Tobias opened his mouth to speak when suddenly more screams and roars cut through the air. Tobias looked over and saw the other airships dock and release more grimm into the docking station. Gunfire however let Tobias know that more military had shown up. Turning to Ark and Atro he said. "Ark, make sure you get all these people to the safe zone. Atro follow me!" Turning swiftly Tobias began to sprint back down the hallway forcing his way through the still crowded hallway. When he finally broke through he saw Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck fighting multiple griffons over the around the body of a disintegrating Nevermore that had multiple lockers in it. Port gave a mighty swing with his axe cleaving one of the griffons in half. He noticed Tobias and shouted out. "Hoho! Young Tobias! We are cleaning up here so don't worry about us go meet up with everyone else at the airship docks!" He lifted his axe and pointed to the opposite side of the arena. "Well don't just stand there boy! Go!"

Tobias shook his head and continued to run, Atro right at his heels. As he reached the entrance for the docking station he saw everyone standing before General Ironwood he said something to them before stepping into his airship and flying off. The students looked among themselves for a moment before running over to the next airship and pilling in. Tobias looked over at Atro and said. "Go with them, make sure all the students get to safety! I'm going back to meet up with Ark, hopefully they got everyone out."

Atro's face became deadly serious. "Students? Children? I died once for children and I gladly do it again. We must create a future for our children!" He said as he sprinted into the ship. Tobias watched the ship take off before turning around. Only to be passed by a blur of red and roses. He stumbled for a second before crying out. "Ruby?!" She was quickly out of sight however and Tobias sprinted to catch up to her. When he got the the arena he saw Ruby using a locker to launch off out of the arena before he could even say anything. "Dammit Ruby what the hell, you need to stop running off on your own!" he growled out angrily. He continued to run to the other dock. He sighed in relief as he saw he was the only one there. Unfortunately there were a few bodies strewn about the platform. As Tobias got a closer look he saw that a good majority of them had on a uniform. "That's the uniform those people Cinder was with had on…What the actual hell is going on here!" Before he could think any further on it a huge explosion had Tobias tumble to the floor. The entire arena shaking. "What the fu-" He was cut off as the entire coliseum began to list. "Whoa whoa WHOA!" Tobias cried out as he began to slide backwards through the hall he came through as he grabbed around trying to find purchase on something. He slid over the lip of the arena and slammed into the wall causing him to see stars and lose his breath. Gasping for breath he struggled to his knees and wheezed out. "Gla..Cial Wings... ..ra Come…" A white light appeared again and revealed a woman with red eyes and blond hair. She had ice blue armor that were shaped like claws at her hands and feet she also had wings that looked like ice shards protruding from her back.. In one hand she held a large pure blue trident and in the other a broad sword. She quickly sheathed her sword and grabbed Tobias by his stomach and lept into the air. Flying out of the arena. Catching his breath Tobias turned his head to look at the arena as it fell into the city with a huge rumble.

"Holy shit…" he muttered as he got a better look. The crystal that was keeping the island floating had be blown up. Only chunks of the crystal remained on the island itself.

"Are you alright summoner?" Belfura asked.

Remembering where he was he said. "Yea. I'm fine just lost my breath there is all thanks for getting me out of there."

"But of course summoner."

"Go to the school. We need to find everyone."

"So be it." Belfura changed directions and with a freezing flap of her wings they flew off at high speeds towards Beacon.

As they were flying over the courtyard he saw team JNPR and a large group of other students fighting. However they were getting surrounded by a mech those uniformed terrorist and many grimm. "Belfura stop! Right here!"

She stopped, as she hovered in air Tobias shouted. "Radiant Guardian Shera crush it!"

As soon as Shera appeared she began to drop like a rock. Lightning building up and crackling around her as she fell.

* * *

Jaune rolled under the fist as the mech swung he quickly brought his sword only for it to be deflected. He jumped backwards and looked behind him to see that everyone else was occupied with their own battles to provide aid. "Guys we got a problem, there's no way I can stop a blow from that thing and we can't cut through it."

"What can we do?!" Ren asked quietly but panic was noticeable in his voice. Pyrrha and Nora continued to fire at the mech as it slowly but approached them. "We gotta find some wiring or somewhere it's exposed… maybe we can cut the power source. They repositioned themselves and began to fan out, encircling the mech. Before Nora shouted out. "Hey do you guys hear that?"

"RAAAAAAAAA!" a voice shouted before what seemed to be a lightning bolt came down from the sky crushing the mech destroying it instantly. A woman stepped down from the mech she had a large great sword in one hand with a pointed hilt and a shield that seemed to have a second shield of lightning coating it. She was adorned in heavy armor with blue gems place in them her helmet had a design similar to that of a dragons as well. She continued to walk forward until she was standing right on front of Nora, towering over the girl. "Nora Valkyrie correct?" She asked.

"Yes.." Nora responded hesitantly.

"Good, Summoner wanted me to meet with you in particular." She said.

"Wait, you're with Tobias?" Jaune interrupted. "Where is he?!"

"Right here." He said as Belfura dropped him off. Not giving Jaune time to speak. "Where is the evac station for the school. We need to start getting the injured and unfit out of here."

"Atlas set up a small one at the airship station but the White Fang are trying to break through." Jaune said.

"White fang..? Those people in those weird uniforms and masks?"

"Yea! They are the ones attacking us."

"Alright. Belfura and Shera will help you guys i'm getting to the evac station. Stay safe!"

"You can't get there alone! There's too many things in the way." Ren said.

Tobias laughed at that. "I'm never alone. Not anymore. "Graceful Princess Elza come!"

Another white light showed this time revealing a woman with red eyes and purple hair wearing a red and gold cloak that had black fur lining the outsides. She had a short shirt on that was practically just a bra and very short shorts she had dark purple butterfly wings that changed from purple to a lighter blue the closer they got to her back. She held two short war scythes in each hand each of them a blood red and dark purple blade the handle the blades were protruding from had her wings on them as well and purple and light blue butterflies flew around her like an aura.

Before they could start running however the ground shook, causing everyone to lose their balance.

"What now..?" Tobias muttered. An insanely large cloud of dust caught Tobias's eye as he squinted at Mount Glenn in the distance. "Um...is Mount Glenn a volcano?"

The question caught them off guard. "Uh..no? Why?" Jaune asked confused.

Seemingly in answer another tremor ripped through the land as the mountain practically exploded. The boom was easily heard from their distance as a gigantic dragon appeared from the mountain. "Holy shit...Guys...I think we missed something when we were up there after all."


	21. Chapter 21

**And we are back! This chapter was suppose to be the last one but then work put its boot up my ass. So that gave me time to instead of finish, come up with some new/different ideas so then I decided to just break it up. However this gives me a good chance to cover somethings before the end of the story. So I set up a poll and you can find it on my profile page thing. Its asking whether or not I should continue the story into vol 4 ect ect. if you want to do the poll go right ahead or if you want to leave a review about it go right ahead. I just want to hear your guy's opinions on it. Aside from that...there is not much I need to talk about right now so as always thanks for your patience and as always please enjoy the story. Let me know what ya think!**

Chapter 21: Warzone

Cinder stood on the room of the tower as she overlooked the carnage smirking as Mercury recorded everything. She was watching the arena fall when movement caught her eye. A vaguely human shape seemed to be flying away from the falling arena and once it cleared the wreckage it stopped and began to hover in midair. Cinder looked in wonder at the ice blue woman as she looked down. Cinder noticed someone being held in her arm. She squinted in order to try and see better but she was too far. Suddenly however the draconic woman began to fly towards them at a surprisingly fast speed for something so large. As it turned out she wasn't flying towards them but past them. As she passed overhead Cinder finally got a good look at who was in her arm. "Tobias…?" she said confused before smirking. I knew there was something different about him. She watched them fly over the school courtyard where the students were fighting. The woman stopped a good distance above one of the mechs the White Fang acquired before a flash of light appeared from them and another form began to drop out of the sky. Lightning arched through the sky as it crushed the mech instantly and Cinder's eyes went wide. "What power...I need that strength and I think she will like to know about him…" She turned to Mercury and Emerald. "Emerald, Find Tobias and bring him to me. Do whatever you have to do but do not kill him, anyone else is up for you to decide."

"Yes Ma'am." Emerald said.

"And me?" Mercury asked right as the ground shook.

"...Keep recording and broadcasting, you are NOT going to want to miss this. I have a meeting with dear old Ozpin so I will leave you to it."

* * *

The dragon let out a piercing shriek for the world to hear as everyone winced it then began to fly directly towards Beacon. "Now THAT is not good." Tobias muttered. "Belfura...see if you can't distract it and lead it away from the school and city with all this chaos around the last thing we need is to deal with that thing. Be careful."

"But of course, summoner." Belfura said while nodding. She then took off and made a beeline straight for the approaching dragon.

As Tobias watched Belfura fly off he said. "Okay, Elza and I are going to go make sure the evac station stays safe I have another unit named Atro who is around so try to meet up with him if possible but he's on the other side of the school it seems like. Stay safe guys."

"You too Tobias." Jaune said as Tobias and Elza ran off.

An ear shattering roar caused everyone to look in surprise however as the dragon made its appearance in the school. Dark blobs began to rain down from the dragon. Gunk flying off of it as it flew around the school.

Belfura could be seen flitting in and out around the dragon it looked like a sparrow was attacking a eagle. They dragon was snapping and scratching at Belfura but it didn't seem to be able to land a hit. On the other hand, Belfura by herself couldn't seem to cause any serious damage to it as they flew around in aerial combat.

Jaune watched one of the globs fall from the dragon and as it landed the splat mark quivered for a moment before suddenly an Ursa Major spawned from the black gunk. Staring in shock he noticed that there were far more grim than there was a minute ago. "Guys heads up! Grim and a lot of them!"

Most of the other students managed to group up around team JNPR and they readied themselves for the incoming horde. Jaune glanced over at Pyrrha who looked back at him with a worried look on her face. As their eyes met she managed to smile before staring straight ahead and standing straight up. She suddenly took off despite the protest of Jaune.

"Jaune go after her! We will take care of it!" Ren said.

Jaune looked at Ren like he wanted to argue before Nora cut in. "Don't worry about it Jaune! Go get Pyrrha back for us!"

Jaune set his jaw and nodded before sprinting after Pyrrha.

Nora looked back at the horde running them down. "Here we go!" she said with a large smile. Right before she was about to charge forward a hand grabbed her shoulder. "Just a moment actually." Shera said. "Summoner said he wanted to try something out and I think now would be the best time. Your semblance is absorbing and producing electricity correct?"

"Um. Yea? But I really don't think this is the time for this." Nora said as she looked at the horde growing closer. Other students had already begun to fire into the encroaching black wave.

Shera glanced over Nora's shoulder. "I suppose you are right." She then stuck her hand out in front of Nora with her palm facing upwards. "Take my hand."

"Uhh what?"

"Just trust me and do it."

Nora put her hand in Shera's and Shera gripped it tightly. "Brace yourself." She said as she raised her sword into the air.

"Wait for what?"

Lightning arched up and down Shera's form and Nora felt an unfamiliar jitteriness as it began to flow into her as well. Nora felt full, there was no other way of explaining how she felt at the moment. She began to cackle maniacally as Shera finally stopped the lightning. "I... Feel...POWERFUL!" Nora lept so fast she was simply a blur and slid to a stop in front of an Ursa and gave a powerful underhand swing directly in its chest. Nora's supercharged strength not only instantly collapsed the Ursa's chest but sent it flying into the sky its body rag dolling impressively. The second unfortunate grim in Nora's path was a Beowolf that was slammed into the ground so hard it created a crater. The rest of the students who were originally startled and amazed at the spectacle they just witnessed shook off their amazement and began to engage the grim. Shera slammed her shield onto the head of a Beowolf, stunning it before it was quickly decapitated by another student. She shouted over the carnage. "Don't let up! I will protect you!" as she continued to use her shield to force the horde back and attract their attention as the rest of the students cut through them

* * *

As Tobias and Elza got closer to the evac zone the dragon flew over their heads. "Well damn… Guess he didn't want to play with only Belfura. We gotta get to the evac before something bad happens. Right as he said that a loud pinging sound startled Tobias causing him to look forward. Elza was in front of him in a defensive position. A White fang member standing a few feet in front of them with a smoking gun in his hands. Elza instantly dashed forwards and slashed upwards cutting the man's gun in half. She then kicked out landing a square hit in his stomach causing him to collapse to the ground. Giving him no time to recover Elza jumped up into the air and dropped an axe kick right on top of his head slamming it into the ground. A blue light flickered and faded around the man as he began to push off the ground groaning. Elza simply kicked him fiercely in the head again, this time some blood spraying out as his head snapped around and he finally collapsed on the ground. Tobias turned away from the man and kept running forward. The further they got the more White fang members they saw going to the evac zone as well. Elza quickly incapacitated them for the most part sweeping their feet out from under them and spinning to hit them harshly in their chest with her blades giving some of them large bloody wounds. "Some of these people aren't hunters. Elza don't leave any fatal wounds!"

Elza slammed her blade into the ground, her scythe stopping mere inches from a lucky man's neck as he screamed out in terror. She pulled her scythe out of the ground and leveled it at the man's face. He scrambled to his feet and ran off, blood dripping after him. "Well that takes care of some of them. Let's get to the evac station. When they got there, there was already a large congregation of White fang personnel attacking the soldier positioned there. A White fang mech was blowing soldiers away with its rockets. Tobias heard people screaming from somewhere behind the defensive line the soldiers put up. And he narrowed his eyes at the mass of terrorist in front of him. "Elza. tear them apart."

"Yes summoner." was all she said before dashing forward again. Halfway to the mech her wings flapped and she leapt into the air gaining more and more speed. She then she began to spin like a top, her twin scythes blurring together into one. Steel ripping and shredding rang out over the gunshots causing the White fang members and the Atlesian soldiers to look at the mech in surprise at it began to collapse. It's leg completely severed. Elza slid to a stop as the leg fell past her and quickly sprinted back into the middle of the White fang members. She crouched under a sword that was swung at her and raised her scythes in a skyward slash. Tobias turned around, unwilling to see what was about to happen.

"Redeem Termination." The small crowd of white fang members disappeared in an inky black explosion. Purple spots and butterflies flew out of the area before it cleared. Elza stood in the center of a pile of bodies large gashes and wounds were visible on them all, blood pouring out freely creating a small lake of blood. Elza flicked her scythes out blood visibly flying off of them as she walked out of the mass of bodies. Her wings fluttered for a moment shedding still more blood as a thick metallic scent began to fill the area. She then began to march towards the Atleasian soldiers who instantly raised their weapons again but lowered them as Elza put both her scythes behind her and raised her hand in peace. Tobias gingerly stepped past the bodies muttering to himself. "If you want to become murderers and terrorist then be prepared for any outcome…Aeternum vale." As he walked up to Elza who was currently more or less surrounded by soldiers he spoke out. "We are here to help, are there any wounded? I have a little medical skill."

"We have a tent set up for wounded while we shuttle everyone in and out." a soldier said, "Follow me."

"Elza. Make sure no White fang or anything remotely hostile gets near. Forget what I said about non-lethal as well...if they want to murder innocents then they better be prepared to die in return."

"If you desire me to reap more souls then I have no qualms summoner." Elza said as she walked off.

Tobias turned back to the soldiers who had a slightly fearful look about them and said. "For one you're probably going to want to clean that mess up out there. And please take me to whoever needs help."

* * *

Ark sat in the back of the airship in silence as he gazed upon the terrified civilians. Explosions were occasionally heard as they flew over the city. He glanced out the back window and set his jaw. People were running around being chased by grim and robots. The Atlesian soldiers were fighting back as much as possible but there was simply too much for them to save. "Hey mister?" A voice called out causing Ark to turn around to see a small boy with brown hair and hazel eyes staring up at him. He wrung his hands nervously. "T-thank you for saving my mother and I."

Ark looked at the boy for a moment. "It's the least I could do."

"A-are we going to make it out of here okay? Are we going to die?"

Ark quickly stood up and knelt down in front of the boy. "I will make sure you all get to safety. You can count on that as an absolute fact that I will keep that promise with my life."

The boy smiled softly at Ark before wiping his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Hunter." before a woman who was obviously his mother came up and grabbed the boy by the arm. "I'm terribly sorry Huntsman I do hope he wasn't disturbing you."

Ark stood up. "He was no trouble at all ma'am, but please call me Ark." He pointed behind him to the woman. "And this is Illia

"Thank goodness…thank you for saving us Ark and Illia. I've never seen a faunas with those kinds of wings before, they are simply beautiful."

Illia giggle. "Thank you."

"I've never seen HUNTERS like you two before. Simply amazing stuff, you pulled off in the hanger." A soldier spoke up. He was lying on the floor with a hastily wrapped bandage over his midsection.

Ark was about to respond to the soldier when a terrifying roar cut through the air. Ark rushed over to the window to witness a giant dragon flying straight for the city. Everything that could have gone wrong in that instant did. The pilot, distracted by the dragons horrifying majesticness did not see one of the White fang members on the ground open fire on the ship. There was a muted boom and then the entire ship shuddered as the wing was torn off. They quickly began to drop out of the sky, everyone screaming. The boy Ark was talking to let out a sob before Ark managed to get to the middle of the ship. "Ascendant Sword Alvesta!" Ark shouted as he stabbed the floor of the ship. His swords glowing blue. There was a bright light that flashed in the ship right before it hit the ground. A large crash sounded as the airship hit the ground and slid along the ground. The ship slowly came to a stop and all was still for a moment before the sound of twenty mirrors shattered cut through the air all at once. Ark's blade pierced through the wall of the air ship before it went flying out as he cut a hole to clamber out. He reached back into the ship holding his hand in front of the sobbing boy with a smile. "I told you I wouldn't let anything bad happen."

He helped the boy out of the wreckage before reaching back in to start pulling others out as well.

"Get down on the ground human scum!" a gruff voice called out.

Ark glanced behind him to see about fifth-teen of the White fang members. All of them carrying various firearms and weapons. The largest of them had a chainsaw and seemed to be leading them. "I said, get down on the ground. Then maybe we will kill you quickly." He said as he revved his chainsaw.

Ark said nothing as he pushed the boy back into the airship and stood in front of the hole with his body. "Get away from the hole." Ark said harshly as people who were trying to peek out quickly ducked back inside.

"Heh, suit yourself. Open fire!" the man shouted.

"Illia keep them safe!"

Ark only had a second to raise his swords before they unloaded their clips into him and the ship.

After a few moments, the gunfire and various dust explosions finally stopped Ark was down on one knee with his swords out in front of him. His armor had many dents and scratches from the bullets as well as a couple of cuts on his face but he looked more or less okay. Ark instantly sprinted towards them heading straight for the closest person who just happened to be a tall lanky man who was reloading his rifle. By the time the man had realized Ark was in his face it was too late for him to stop reloading as a blade went right through his chest. Yanking it out swiftly he kicked the man once more, sending his body flying limply into two others behind him who had discarded their guns in favor of swords. The rest of the men in front converged on Ark as the few in the back finished reloading and looked for a clear shot. As Ark bobbed, weaved and blocked the weapons that were swung at him he realized that a vast majority of these people had very little to no training in combat or anything of the like and from the information Tobias gathered he doubted that even a third of them had an aura. He ducked under a club and spun, at the same time slashing his swords out in the opposite directions. Blood sprayed through the air as Ark cut through their thighs, tearing ligaments and all. They cried out as the fell on the ground unable to move as they bled profusely. A loud roar and a powerful gust of wind caused Ark to look up and witness the giant dragon fly overhead, as if flew past strange black liquid fell from its body. His attention was brought back down to the fight however as a chainsaw impacted his stomach and launched him back towards the ship. As he tumbled to a stop he could hear the horrified gasp of the people in the ship as he staggered to his feet. His armor was shredded at stomach level and the rest of it has scratches and was worn down. Deep lacerations could be seen in his stomach as well and some of the armor had actually pierced Ark. The large man with a chainsaw laughed. "Well, you had some nice armor their but it looks like you aren't even a hunter." He revved up the chainsaw again. "And this time the armor isn't going to save you."

"You can do it mister Ark! We know you can!" the child cried out before being dragged deeper into the ship by his mother

Ark simply cracked his neck and nodded in response and charged again this time meeting the chainsaw wielder head on. As they clashed the teeth of the chainsaw made it impossible to cross blades without getting thrown off balance. The man continued to push his advantage and slowly began to force Ark backwards. One of the remaining White fang lackeys tried to help their higher up, coming in from the side swinging the butt end of her rifle at him. The man took a slight step back in order to give her some room to avoid his chainsaw but Ark swiftly dodged to the left of the man and kicked his hand, sending his chainsaw flying out of his grasp and straight into the woman. She screamed as the chainsaw tore into her flesh, sending gore everywhere as the man stared in horror. Ark wasted no time "Messiah Reaver!" As he slashed downwards the area burst into a blinding light. The White fang members that managed to avoid the area of light listened to the screams of their comrades for a moment before picking up their weapons and firing into the light where Ark was standing last. Ark tumbled out of the light with two smoking spots on his chest plate. He unstrapped his chest plate and let it fall to the ground revealing his torn undershirt but no wounds. His twin swords shimmering an ethereal blue now. While a vast majority of the White fang attackers were laying down dead the larger man staggered to his feet half of his mask cut off revealing livid looking baby blue eyes. A light blue aura flickered around him before vanishing. He grabbed his chainsaw and gave it a powerful swing, flicking off the gore on the blade before revving it back up and looking at Ark. "Just who the hell are you."

Ark once again remained silent as he stared down the remaining three members. The chainsaw wielder and Ark charged each other once again. The man gave a heavy downward slash while Ark slashed horizontally. Their blades met in the middle and the chainsaw was knocked off to the side again. As the man was forced to turn with the momentum a long cut appeared on his forearm. He screamed in pain as he dropped his chainsaw on the ground but Ark didn't let up, spinning around he brought his swords down once again this time connecting solidly with the man leaving deep cuts in his chest. As the second blade came down the man managed to use his other arm to push the blade away and attempted to grab Ark only for his finger to but cut off by the flowing shimmer that followed Arks blades. He let out a tormented scream that was only drowned out by piercing childlike scream that was followed by more terrified screams. Ark stopped his onslaught and looked back to the ship. Grim were swarming all over the top of the ship, bashing on the windows and metal plating as Illia attempted to fend off the grim that managed to get near the opening. Ark instantly turned around and sprinted towards the ship and the grim that seemingly spawned out of nowhere. Illia jumped back as the Ursa swiped at her, she sent more blue flame at the beast causing it to finally collapse. The bear however gave a quick beowolf enough time to jump through the hole and pin her down as it roared, right before the beast could snap at her two blazing swords pierced its chest as it went stiff. Ark let out a roar as he flung the wolf out of the hole and leapt out as well. "Illia! Lend me your power!"

Illia in turn smiled at Ark. "Of course! Always!" she raised her hands up and two blue orbs appeared. Ark slashed through an alpha Beowolf in record time before leaping into the air and slamming his blade into the wolf, cleaving it into and then where his blade landed a brilliant blue pillar of flame erupted sealing the the hole of the ship with holy fire. Agonized howls and shrieks caused the civilians and soldiers to look from the window to see two more pillars blazing as Ark slash and hacked his way through the remaining horde his blades setting them alight.

The snarls and growls finally stopped and Illia let her hands fall to her sides again. As she did the pillars dissipated and Ark reappeared at the opening holding out his arm again. Glancing at the child he gave a smile. "I promised you I would protect you all with my life. Now let's go, it's not safe here.

* * *

"We need to get to everyone else!" Weiss shouted as she pulled Myrtenaster from the chest of a robot.

"Well that's obvious enough, but where IS everyone else!" Blake said as she reloaded Gambol Shroud and stared at the grim dragon circling the school.

As if fate was smiling upon them despite everything else a flash of yellow and pink lightning appeared on the other side of the school shortly accompanied by an explosion.

Weiss gave a sidelong look at Blake. "I think I might have an idea of where everyone is.

Sighing despite herself Blake said. "Yea I bet you do." As they began to run across the school they noticed robot bodies littering the floor everywhere as well White fang members which caused Blake to grimace. As they turned the corner they saw a man in all white surrounded by Atlesian robots further down. "We have to help him!" Weiss shouted as she picked up speed. Using her glyphs to propel her faster. The man spun around swiftly blocking what bullets and lasers he could as he slowly neared on of the robots. He quickly slashed out at the robot cutting deep in its chest sending sparks flying before running it through with his blade. Not half a second later a bright light appeared on all the other robots as the all fell over with the exact same wound to their chest. Weiss skidded to a stop a few feet away, the noise causing him to swiftly turn around and raise his sword again before he lowered it. "Oh! Weiss!" the man said in surprise. Before Blake showed up next to her. "Ah good! Blake is here as well. Tell me do you know where Yang is?"

"Um...do we know you?" Weiss asked staring at the man in confusion. He had a bright white aura around him.

"Oh of course! My apologies. You don't know me specifically but you know Tobias. I however am Atro, Lux Halcyon Atro."

"So, you're with Tobias. That makes more sense now, where is he?" Blake asked. Atro glanced around before turning and walking towards the other side of the school gesturing for them to follow. "Summoner is at the airfield helping non-hunter students and civilians get out of the area. Myself and Shera are helping the students defend what we can. I've been collecting straggling students and escorting them as well as cutting down some of the attackers. Weiss and Blake followed Atro to the courtyard where the remaining teams were fighting and without wasting a second dived into the fight, tearing through the hordes of grim from behind.

* * *

Belfura grunted as she sank her sword deep into the side of the dragon, spilling inky black gunk into the air. She had been chasing this dam thing for a while now but unable to do any lasting damage. The black gunk sealed up the wounds she created remarkably fast. Despite how much the dragon ignored her it never let her get to its wings. Always keeping just out of reach or swiping at her forcing her to dodge away. Suddenly the dragon picked up the pace and flew past the tower, leaving Belfura behind. Surprised at the sudden burst of speed Belfura began to give chase as it disappeared behind the tower when it suddenly came crashing through the entire structure. Belfura furiously began to fly backwards in order to avoid flying debris as the dragon came crashing through but she couldn't avoid the large claw that swiped her out of the sky sending her hurtling to the ground.

"Belfura!" Shera cried out as she bashed another creep into the ground. "Look out!"

Belfura's eyes snapped open to see the black gunk raining down right before it hit her as she vanished into the inky blackness.

* * *

Tobias finished the final touches on a bandage before walking out of the medical tent. He watched Elza walk around the courtyard as she gazed further down the courtyard where the most intense fighting was happening. Elza turned around and walked towards Tobias her face impassive.

"There are still people who are getting moved out here. Once the last of the civilians are out of here and safe you can get out there." Tobias said.

Elza sported a small frown. "Shera hasn't charged her brave burst yet and Atro already used his and Belfura is not having any luck with that dragon. They need my help."

"Atro recharges ridiculously fast and this time Shera will be affected by it. Don't worry about it. As long as Belfura keeps the dragon distracted to not attack the-" Tobias cut off as his eyes went wide and he clutched his chest.

"Summoner?!" Elza yelled running up to him as he fell to his knees. "What's wro-"

Elza too clutched her chest and fell to her knees choking in pain while Tobias let out a pained scream.

* * *

Ark trudged down the ruined and abandoned street with the rest of the ship members behind him. He kept his swords ready but this area seemed to be quiet and peaceful. Grimm howls roars gunfire and people's screams could be heard in the distance however. "How close are we to the safehouse?" Ark asked over his shoulder.

"This is 5th street and the safe house is on 7th. So, it's a few more blocks." One of the soldiers responded. "Are you sure you don't want to stop for a moment to get your wounds looked at? In the fight, it looked like you had taken some pretty heavy blows and lost your aura."

"I assure you I'm fi-" Ark suddenly collapsed as he clutched his chest. Illia fell right beside him mirroring his position. A soldier quickly rushed up to them as rolled them onto their backs. "Are you okay!? Where is the wound!"

"I-Illia…" Ark choked out. "Is... your chest burning…. too?"

"Yes...Something is wrong…. With Tobias." She managed to get out.

* * *

"Belfura!" Shera yelled out as she began to run to the puddle of blackness that had enveloped Belfura. Suddenly however Shera clutched her chest and fell to her knees. A few moments later Atro did the same.

* * *

"What's going on with them!" Weiss shouted.

"Don't know! But it looks like they are in trouble come out get them out of the area!" Coco shouted back as she mowed down waves of grim with her minigun. "Yatsu! Fox! Clear a path! Blake! Velvet! Grab white knight over there and get him away! Nora and Ren get Shera!" Coco called out. Yatsuhashi and Fox instantly dived into the fray. Blake and Velvet right on their heels as they cleaved through the hordes. Fox flipped over Yatsu and drop kicked a beowolf sending flying back as Yatsu slammed his blade into the ground effectively dispersing everyone in the area, including Atro. Blake quickly turned Gambol Shroud into sickle form and threw it as hard as she could. It wrapped around Atro's leg and she pulled him back where Velvet caught him midair while vaulting off of a alpha creep. Velvet hit the ground running as Blake fired a salvo of bullets at the grim chasing her. Nora launched grenade after grenade in Shera's area doing her best not to hit her while Ren used the distraction to sprint towards her. He grabbed her and began to drag her back while firing over her shoulder. He reached Nora who grabbed them both and began to fall back at much faster rate.

* * *

' _Elza what's wrong with Tobias!'_ Ark's voice cut through the pain addled minds of Tobias, Shera, Elza and Atro. ' _I'm not sure! He suddenly collapsed and then my chest started to burn.'_ Elza said.

' _There's no physical wounds on him so I don't know what's wrong with him. But the burn is finally starting to fade but Tobias doesn't seem to be getting any better!'_

' _Just keep him safe. I'll try to get there as soon as possible.' Ark said._

Elza staggered to her feet and glanced down at Tobias only to realize he wasn't there. She looked around in shock before she noticed a girl in mint green hair dragging Tobias away, his face slack. Elza glared as she recognized who it was and lept into the air. Emerald hadn't been able to drag him far in the time it took Elza to catch up to them. She dropped down in front of Emerald with her scythes at the ready as she sent a death glare in Emeralds direction who had dropped Tobias in surprise. "Leave him and walk away girl, I'll give you one chance. You won't survive an encounter with me.

* * *

"Someone get his shirt open stat! Hers too! We don't know what's wrong if we can't see the wound!" Someone shouted as the rest of the crowd murmured nervously. Ark's head snapped up to see a surprised soldier hovering over him with a small switchblade. "I'm fine. It's fine." Ark said quickly climbing to his feet.

"What? Are you sure? You completely collapsed just now." the soldier protested. "Just let us give you a quick once over to make sure there's nothing fatal."

Ark walked over to Illia and helped her to her feet. "I assure you I'm fine. Nothing fatal or anything like that. Come on we are almost to the safe house correct? We need to hurry."

The soldier looked like he wanted to protest some more but with Ark walking briskly and the encroaching howls of the grim cause him and the rest of the crowd to quickly catch up.

* * *

Atro and Shera staggered to their feet as they looked at the students in front of them forming a defensive line and slowly falling back. Nora and Ren were lying next to them badly injured as Fox was running back with Velvet in his arms. Weiss was near the front cutting down a mech that had appeared in the time they collapsed but more could be seen coming. It was clear that the students were tiring. Auras could be seen fading and depleting left and right but the hordes of grim kept coming combined with the occasional appearance of White fang members. "Atro. Shera. We have runners moving people back to the safe zone just sit tight." Ren said as he sat on the ground. "We can't hold out much longer we have to fall back." Shera and Atro glanced at each other before looking forward. "Very well." Atro said. "We will give you the strength to fall back." he turned towards the defending line of students. "Everyone focus on retreating right now!" The students glanced back to see Atro and Shera standing with them blades at the ready. Blake appeared next to them. "I can still fight! I'm not done yet."

Atro glanced at her before raising his sword and pointing it at the enemy. "Very well, but brace yourself."

A glyph appeared at Blake's side as Weiss landed next to her, staggering a little and breathing hard. "I..can keep going as well."

"Weiss, you can't whatever you pulled with that giant arm obviously drained you. You need to fall back I still have aura and strength left." Blake said looking at her with concern.

"But."

"No. This is not a situation where we have to worry about someone being left completely defenseless. Fall back." Shera interrupted, her voice leaving no room for arguments.

"...very well... "Weiss said as she turned and caught up with the remaining students.

"Are you ready?" Atro asked Blake. "Our goal is it distract the enemy so the rest of the students can retreat and get to Belfura…" Atro frowned. "However, I can't detect her at all and I know she didn't die...but it just feels...empty? Almost…"

"No matter. We will just have to get to her and we will figure it out from there." Shera said.

Atro nodded his head. "Brace yourself Blake. This is going to feel strange."

Simultaneously Atro and Shera charged forward, as they reached the grim they shouted at the same time.

"Vertias Reve!"

"Caladbolg Resonance!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Ladies and Gentlemen, first off im so sorry for the long wait time. I was just being a lazy little shit. But this is (maybe) the last chapter of Summoned Roses! So i just wanted to give my thanks to all those who read and gave feedback or their thoughts it really does mean alot to me. I know my writing skills arnt the greatest and I tried to write the story as well as possible but editing my own work well...I tend to know what im writing about and end up skipping the mistakes. So thank you so much for putting up with my and my writing. One particular reader though really stuck around and cause of that i just wanted to give a little shout out to you MaxHD it was a really good feeling that I knew I had readers come back to my story. This goes out to everyone but Max was just kind of always there in the reviews and I really really appreciate it. Theres more at the end of the chapter concerning the future of the story but Ill let you get to reading it if you havnt already. So as always please enjoy!**

Chapter 22: In the End

Tobias woke up to the sounds of clashing steel and a dull burn in his chest. Groaning he looked up to focus his hazy vision on the scene before him. As his vision cleared he watched Emerald and Elza clashing, Emerald on the defensive as she tried to put distance between them and use her guns. Elza, who was controlling the flow of the battle was not having any of it, her speed proving too much for Emerald to deal with. Elza had the advantage of weapon length and was putting it to good use. Her rapid spins and slashes making it incredibly hard for Emerald to find an opening for counter attack. Elza's dance of steel finally broke through Emeralds guard and left her open to a very solid drop kick that sent her sliding across the ground. Elza stalked towards her and placed her scythe at Emeralds neck. Elza stared ominously at Emerald as she was lying on the ground. "I warned you girl. You should have left when you had the chance."

Tobias let out a groan as he finally got to his feet causing Elza to glance back at him. "Summoner! Are you alright?"

"Im...fine...I think," Tobias said as he clutched his chest. "But...what happened to Belfura I can't sense her."

Elza turned a little more. "What do you mean she's…" Elza's eyes closed for a moment before they snapped open. "Gone...? I could clearly sense her a moment ago and she was fine." Suddenly Elza's eyes widened and she staggered forward. Emerald was on her feet behind her with her blade driven into Elza's back. "The only one not making it out alive here is you bitch!" Emerald hissed as she drove the blade deeper. Elza let out a small "Urk!" before snarling and turning around and grabbing Emeralds hand. "You Brat!" she snarled as she threw Emerald over her shoulder and slammed her so hard into the ground she bounced and as she bounced a mint green aura flickered around her and faded. The gasp Emerald made audible to even Tobias. Right before Emerald landed on the ground again Elza kicked her fiercely in her side, the snapping of bones clear as day. As Emerald rolled to a stop Elza reached behind her and yanked the blade out with a grunt. She tossed the weapon to the side as she stalked over to Emerald once again, a demonic glint in her eyes. Emerald looked up at her gasping weakly. "Wha- how…"

Elza put the tip of her scythe below her chin. "None of your concern." she said flatly before raising her scythe high into the air. Another large explosion rocked through the air. Tobias looked up to see one the last giant airship suddenly exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere.

"Whoa!" Tobias cried out as a giant piece of metal came flying towards him, still slightly dazed and unable to react. He let out an "oof" as a solid force rammed into his chest. He slammed into the ground at the same time a flaming metal plate did where he had previously been standing. Elza was staring down at him on her hands and knees. "Are you alright summoner?"

Tobias, struggling to keep his eyes focused on hers. "Yes...still just a bit dizzy I suppose."

Elza nodded in satisfaction and stood up. "Now then." She turned around to where Emerald was on the ground only to find out she was gone. Elza clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Must be that semblance of hers. No matter I suppose, summoner we should get back to the medical tent and find out what happened. Elza propped Tobias over her shoulder as they began to walk back.

* * *

As the first wave of grim vaporized in front of her Blake didn't know what to do with herself. Her aura felt ten times thicker and she felt like she could lift a Goliath. The power coursing through her was disorienting to say the very least but an incredibly satisfying feeling. Blake dashed back and forth through the carnage using her newfound strength to cleave through some of the thicker skinned grim and whatever did manage to hit her seem to bounce off of her. She glanced behind her to see Atro and Shera clearing a path towards a puddle of the black goo. Hesitating for a second on whether to follow them or not she noticed out of the corner of her eye some straggling White fang members running behind the library. Narrowing her eyes, she decided with this new strength she could probably take on more than a few White fang grunts and she ran off after them disregarding the faint shouts behind her.

"Foolish girl!" Atro snarled out as he turned back around and slashed through another grim. Making their way closer and closer to the pool. "Too headstrong! All of them."

Lightning sparked and flew as Shera bashed another down with her shield. "Focus Atro! We can go after her in a moment, I'm sure she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself for now." Atro frowned and nodded and began to move up even faster.

 _'_ _What happened to Belfura.'_ Tobias's voice rang out in their heads, making their movements falter for a second. _'Summoner you're alright!' Atro said._

 _'_ _Hardly, my chest feels like it is on fire right now. What happened.' Tobias asked again._

 _'_ _She was knocked down and then she got hit by some of the grim gunk that dragon keeps dropping.'_

 _'_ _Grim gunk...the stuff they are appearing from?' Tobias asked._

 _'_ _Yes, we are trying to get to where she landed but she hasn't appeared.' Shera said._

 _'_ _Because she isn't there. She's gone.'_

 _'_ _Wha-...she is…' Shera said. 'But...but what happened?!'_

 _'_ _I don't know, but she's just gone. As in I can't even sense her spirit anymore it's not here or anywhere.'_

 _'_ _Impossible! She was practically at full health when she got here.'_

 _'_ _Touch the gunk.' Ark and Illia's voice rang out._

 _'_ _The gunk?' Shera asked puzzled.'_

 _'_ _Yes. It creates grim right? So there has to be something off with it.'_

 _'_ _Very well.'_

Atro and Shera came to a stop in front of the crater Belfura had made. Shera crouched down and reached her hand out but instantly jerked it back as a loud scream and a bang sounded out behind them. Atro and Shera whirled around to see a fiery explosion send a grim flying backwards and a blazing blond ball of fire beat its way through. Atro prepared his sword before he recognized their blaze. "You must be Yang."

Walking up slowly she spoke. "I am, who are you?"

"I am Atro and this is Shera, we are summons of Tobias."

Yang's eyes widened. "Then you must know where Ruby and Blake are!" she rushed up and grabbed Atro by the shoulders. "Tell me! I need to get to them." Atro shook Yang's hands off of him and gestured into the air. "Unfortunately, after the ship's explosion I do not know where Ruby could be. However, Blake ran off towards the library but. Hey STOP!" Atro cried out as Yang instantly took off towards the library. "FOOLISH GIRLS! He snarled out.

"We will catch up to them shortly. Let's figure out what this is." Shera said calmly as she reached down into the pool of black gunk. The moment her hand made contact with the inky black substance she jerked it back and cried out in pain. At the same time Atro grabbed his hand and let out a sharp hiss in pain. Shera stumbled back from the pool while clutching her hand. "What IS that! Why does it burn so much!"

' _Shera what hand did you touch it with.' Tobias said._

 _'_ _My left.' Shera replied._

Tobias was silent for a moment as he thought. _Grim...so grim appear from this substance...what is the main thing about the grim that sets them apart from the people here.'_

 _'_ _They are soulless.' Ark chimed in._

Tobias was silent once again for a moment. _'Atro, Shera get away from that pool now. No one let that stuff get on you or near you no matter what. The grim are like a disease right? And they spawn from that gunk. I'm more than willing to bet it's like an acid to regular people. But to people like you...spirits...souls...it probably eats away at you and your very soul. Destroying you completely, that has to be what happened to Belfura. And since you all use my soul to project your souls...It probably damages my soul to some extent as well. That's why when you touched it Shera we ALL felt it. Belfura...is gone. Forever, whatever you do do not get that on you again!'_

 _'_ _Absolutely!' They all chimed in._

Shera and Atro shared a grim look as they backed away from the pool. Just as they were about to clear out the remaining grim a familiar cry sounded out. "The girls!" Atro said looking over at the library.

"Go Atro! I will clear a path for you to come back!" Shera said as her weapons sparked. Atro nodded and sprinted off to the library.

* * *

Blake allowed herself a small grin as she flipped over another White fang grunt, wrapping her ribbons around his leg and sending him careening into the ground face first. This new strength was almost intoxicating. Another member came running up to her screaming as he slashed at her head with a gigantic war axe. Bullishly Blake decided to meet the blade head on, a tremendous clang sounded out as their blades met and they both struggled for a moment before Blake pushed the man's axe back over his head and quickly cut him down. As he fell down groaning his aura flickered around him she smiled once more as she wondered if this is how Yang feels when her semblance activates. Deciding to ignore him for now she ran off into the library. As she jumped through the window and looked at the man standing in the middle her entire world came to a crashing halt. Standing over an unmoving body with a blood red Katana and bullhorns stood that man. They stared at each other for a moment before he gave a less than friendly smile at her. "Hello, My darling."

"No...Adam...what are you doing here." Blake whispered out.

He raised his hands into the air. "Oh, just ridding the world of human scum! Making it a better place for all faunus!"

"This isn't how you make a better world Adam! This is how you make war!"

"Which is the only thing humans understand." Adam replied with a frown. Just then the body at Adam's feet let out a pained groan causing Adam to glance down. Smirking he said "And since it is the only thing they understand. Ill carve the path using their blood!" he shouted as he struck down with his blade.

"NO!" Blake shouted as she moved. Adam looked surprised at how much ground she was able to cover so quickly, Blake surprised with herself as well but attesting it to the otherworldly strength Atro and Shera gave her. Adam being far stronger than most of the White fang grunts tried to force his blade down onto Blake but she held strong and began to push back. After a moment Blake finally managed to start pushing the blade away until suddenly and randomly she felt all that strength leave her. Adam felt it as well because he instantly released the blade lock they were in and fiercely sucker punched Blake in the jaw sending her sprawling over the floor. Blake faintly noticed her aura flicker around her. In her boosted rampage, she hadn't felt her exhaustion creeping up on her. Adam walked over to her frowning. "You are a traitor Blake. A traitor to your people! You turned your back on us, your family to live among humans?! And even then, you hide your heritage from them, like a coward!" He kicked Blake in the stomach. "Reason with them? Reasoning got us that horrid piece of land we call a home, Reasoning gets us nowhere! At this rate, you are no better than humans." he spat out.

"Blaaake! Where are you! Blaaaaaaaake!" A familiar voice cried out.

Blake tried to her best to conceal it but the small gasp of recognition and her eyes widening did not slip past Adam.

"Since you love humans so much I will treat you like one. As i set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves. I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love." As he finished speaking he drove Wilt down into her side causing Blake to cry out. The cry grabbing the attention of Yang who was outside the window. As Yang's eyes processed the scene before her Blake could see them turn blazing red. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" She screamed before using Ember Celica to launch herself towards Adam. Blake tried to scream out a warning, anything but she was too slow. Blake felt like she was watching a movie in slow motion as she saw Yang careening towards Adam in a furious blaze, at the same time Adam unsheathing Wilt its red blade glinting then everything sped up again. In a flash Adam and his blade were fully extended and Yang was silent. Blake's eyes widened in horror as she watched Yang collapses limply to the floor, her right arm no longer attached to her body. "Y-Yang...No…"

Adam flicked out his sword sending a splash of red across the floor as he stalked towards Yang. Mustering what strength, she had left she scrambled over to Yang's side and hovered over her protectively. Adam stood above her frowning. "This is what happens when you choose humans over your own." as he swung Wilt. Blake watched as her head went flying before the clone disappeared as she carried Yang away as best as she could. Her eyes prickled as she held back a sob as she knew Adam truly meant to kill anyone who stood in the way of his twisted ideals. As Blake continued to stagger away as best as possible the distinct sound of Blush being cocked made Blake's blood run cold. She closed her eyes and tried to move a little faster, praying that somehow some way he would miss. The loud bang of Blush went off and Blake closed her eyes and clutched Yang closer to her fearing the worst. Expecting to feel the dust slugs digging into her back Blake was surprised to hear the pinging of bullets hitting metal. She looked backwards in disbelief at the fact he had actually missed but her sight of him was blocked by a man wearing all white. "Atro?!" Blake cried out in relief and disbelief. Not turning around Atro spoke, the fury in his voice unmistakable. "Shera is waiting for you. Leave now." Blake gave Atro one last look before dragging Yang outside.

* * *

Tobias sat down next to one of the medical tents letting out a deep sigh. "It's a miracle these guys got out with the injuries they did."

"It's as you said." Elza spoke up as she stared at him. "They chose this profession. They know the risk."

"Yea. but this is crazy. What kind of psycho path attacks a school."

There was some commotion outside that caught Tobias's attention. "What's going on now…" Tobias said as he stood up and began to walk out. Shera was walking towards them with Ren, Nora, and Weiss surrounding her. Her armor looked worn and scratches all around. Behind her was Blake who looks ragged, blood dripping down her side and various bruises all around. However, this was not Tobias's main focus of worry, it was who she was holding and how badly she was injured. "Oh gods, Yang! What the hell happened."

Blake sobbed as she spoke making it very hard to actually understand her. "Ran off...White fang. Hic. Adam.. she jumped in. Hic. I'm so SO sorry." her voice starting to break in the end

"Okay Okay! Calm down." Tobias said as he laid Yang on the ground. Quickly he ran back into the medical tent and grabbed a couple of bandages and tied to around Yang's arm to slow down the blood flow. He then pulled out his communicator and furiously cycled through various images. He then stopped on the image of a green bottle and pressed a button on the side. The top of the cube lit up and a bottle seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He pressed the bottle to Yang's lips and tilted it, slowly pouring the liquid into her throat and massaging her Adam's apple in order to help her drink it down. He stood up sighing. "That's about all I can do for something like that. You are going to have to get her to a serious doctor as soon as possible though."

"What did you do?" Blake asked, her eyes red and her voice raw.

"Healing potion. Stopped the bleeding and a bit of the external injuries but it's not cure. The next evac ship will be coming soon so just hold tight...I just hope Ruby is okay."

As he went to pick is communicator back up it suddenly let out a blaring alarm causing Tobias to jump.

"You cannot be serious. NOW what."

"What is that?" Jaune asked

"It's a raid call...there is either a high congregation of demons or one very powerful one."

He pressed another button on the cube and a projection of a green haired girl appeared.

"Lin what's wrong I'm kind of in the middle of something." Tobias started.

"Tobias." An older much more gravelly voice appeared instead of Lin's, causing Tobias to instantly stiffen. "E-Elder Owen!" he said as he bowed his head slightly. A rather angry looking elderly man with all white hair and a large scar that went down across his face. "Tobias, we need you back here right now."

Tobias looked up in shock. "What! Why! There's some serious stuff going on around here and they need my help!"

Owen's face didn't change. We have sighted at least five five-star class demons in the surrounding areas of the capital. Not only are the beginning to destroy outlying towns but they are slowly moving closer to the capital itself. Right now, they are separated but once they all join together it will be far harder to deal with. We need to nip this problem in the bud. "Is there no one else available!?"

"Noah is already injured. The demon managed to get the drop on him. Grah and I are busy dealing with some things with Tilith concerning the gate to Ishriga, Lugina is still on that secret mission, I've dispatched Karl and Seria already. There's no one else strong enough to make sure this operation stays as collateral free as possible. So, this is a direct order. Get back here and rendevu with Karl and Seria in order to come up with a plan then eliminate the demons with as little collateral as possible."

Tobias opened and closed his mouth. He looked up and everyone as they stared back at him. "Its...its as you heard it…" He said with pained eyes "I have to go back…"

"Hurry Tobias we don't have much time." Owen called out. No sooner after he said that did the sound of glass shattering fill the air and five feet away from them appeared a shimmering rainbow door that glew brilliantly. Nodding his head, he stood up. _'Ark the civilians are somewhere safe, right?'_

 _'_ _Yes. They are in a shelter with Atlas military'_

Tobias let out a sigh of relief. "Good." he muttered to himself.

He looked back up at the Weiss Ren and Nora who were all staring in worry. "I'm sorry." he said while walking up to Weiss. "If...if Ruby comes back give this to her and tell her to press the small red button on the bottom on the device. Its an emergency beacon that lets the logistics support locate you no matter what. If she doesn't...give it...give it to someone who will need or want it…this is all I can do in the end...I'm sorry for not being able to save anything."

Weiss looked down at the device before looking back up at Tobias. "Thank you...you did so much though. I know your units saved Blake and my lives...and I have no doubts they saved many others."

Ren limped forward and placed a hand on Tobias's shoulder. "In the end...perhaps this was all you could do...maybe this was meant to happen. But no matter what...thank you."

Tobias lowered his head and nodded. "Yea…yea. Well I better get going." He began to walk towards the rainbow door. He stopped in front of it. "Tell Ruby i'm sorry...and goodbye for now." He pushed the door open and a blinding plethora of lights appeared blinding everyone briefly. When it faded Tobias, the door, and his units where gone. The only evidence they had even been there were the tiny floating multi colored lights that slowly faded out of existence.

* * *

 **For one I know what you might be thinking. "REAL FUCKING CLEVER ENDING" "HOW ORIGINAL". Yea I ended it like that because I feel that even if you have incredible powers you cant save everything. I liked the ending of vol 3 and I didnt really want to change it to hey this guy with magical badass warriors saved the day. No that wasnt the plan. But anyway if you want to talk about it more you can pm me or leave a review id be happy to discuss it with you. As i said up top this is more concerning the future of the story...I enjoyed writing this. I really did. I promised myself that if a couple of people enjoyed my story i would see it through to the end. Which i did. but now im here again. So once again ill ask as i did in the last chapter. If you want me to continue or think i should let me know. Leave a review or whatever. I even set up that silly poll. The continuation of this story is up to you guys. Thats all I had to say. I hope you guys enjoyed reading Summoned Roses as much as i Enjoyed Writing it.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Some stuff happened that left me in a mood that nothing but writing would fix. So fukkit we are back ladies and gentlemen. To answer some starter questions for all of the time skip yes Tobias (summoner) is in the Bectas/Sealed Gods Arc. Yes he will be fighting now. And im pretty sure we will see this till the end, Or if i get bored. this is just a little story setter kind of? something like that. Anyway let me know what you think and as always. Please enjoy the story**

Legendary Artifacts Arc

Chapter 1: What was Left

Yang stared numbly at the television screen in front of her. The sitcom reruns doing absolutely nothing to distract her in any way. She began to flick mindlessly through the channels in an effort to take her mind off of the sheer nothingness she felt on her right side. As she passed the news channel she stopped in hopes that it was something slightly uplifting. Unfortunately, however at this time the news caster was discussing the reclamation effort of Beacon and Vale. Just as Yang was about to switch the channel the something the newscaster said caught her attention. "Despite the soldiers and hunters best search efforts there are still a few hunters that are missing. One hunting pair whose names were Ark and Illia." Accompanying their names was a street camera recording of Ark and Illia fighting off grim and White fang alike defending a large caravan of civilians and soldiers. It showed different streets of them fighting through completely tearing through the beast with blue flames and blindingly bright lights. "The second huntress is still unnamed and I must warn viewers at home, if you are weak of stomach or don't wish to see any bloodshed I suggest you look away for a minute." The next recording that appeared was from a soldier's point of view. They were looking over a roadblock and firing at White fang personnel when suddenly the mech that was bearing down on them suddenly collapsed. Its leg cleaved in two and in front of the downed mech stood a pale woman with beautiful purple butterfly wings and demonically red eyes. She turned around and charged the rest of the group of White fang, the moment she made contact they all vanished into an orb of pitch blackness with purple explosions firing out occasionally. When the area cleared what was left was a scene of gore that made even Yang grimace. The mech had been completely shredded, deep slashes could be seen in its armor sparks flying everywhere. Every person that had been in the orb was on the ground either dead of bleeding out. The woman let down her twin war scythes and began to walk towards the soldiers who raised their weapons. She flicked out her blades sending blood flying then raised them in a peaceful fashion. The video cut off and the newscaster said. "If you had averted your eyes you may look back." Next to her came up the faces of the three-people shown on TV. "If anyone has any information about the whereabouts or fate of these hunters please let the authorities know. They would like to reward them and thank them for saving many people. Yang hadn't met those particular people but she knew without a doubt those were Tobias's units, the skills and what they did was simply unnatural no human could do those kinds of things.

She clicked off the television and stood up looking around for a moment she then walked outside to the front porch and grabbed the broom and started to sweep. She could feel the troublesome memories coming back. It had only been two months since Beacon and Vale fell and the news channels have kept a constant report on the progress, much to Yang's displeasure sometimes. One month since Ruby...ran off. She kept sweeping, feeling the onset of tears come on as she thought more and more about what had happened after. Her breathing sped up as she thought about how she lost her arm...Adam...that name had permanently seared itself into her brain. She thought about how she woke up. The first thing she had noticed of course was Ruby unconscious next to her. She had jerked up and tried to touch Ruby's face only to register the fact that for one she couldn't _see_ her arm and for two she couldn't _feel_ it either. A set of cold hands were placed on her shoulders and Yang looked up in a panic as she started to hyperventilate as she began to remember what had happened. Her wild eyes met Weiss's tearstained eyes as she gently pushed her down. "Yang don't strain yourself. You are really hurt."

"Where's Blake?!" Yang cried out and Weiss simply stared at her and shook her head. "I don't know. She said she was using the restroom but she never came back."

"N-never came back…? How long have I been out?! What happened to Ruby!"

"About half a day. We've moved locations to a medical outpost where it's safe. And I don't know… she ran up the tower and then suddenly there was a light. When it faded the dragon was frozen and then Qrow came back down with Ruby like that."

Yang stared back at Weiss as she processed this information. "She...she left? Wha…where is Tobias?"

"After he healed your...wound for the most part. He was called back to his world...so he's gone too."

Yang had finally heard enough and burst into tears holding on to Weiss for support. After a day had gone by a large airship had come bearing a snowflake logo. Weiss looked at it with dread and looked back and Ruby, who still hadn't awoken. Once the ship door opened at least twenty armed men in black and white suits poured out. A few moments after the last man stepped out a man in an all-white suit with white hair and blue eyes. He reached the tent opening to reveal Weiss staring back at him while kneeling over Ruby and Yang. "Weiss it's time to leave." he said.

"Wha-what?! But my team!" Weiss cried out.

He scoffed. "From what I can see your team...or what's left of it is perfectly stable."

"I can't leave yet father! I won't! Not until I know for sure." she argued still.

The man's cold eyes turned even colder as he stared at Weiss. "We are leaving _this_ instant. Your team is perfectly fine now get to the airship Weiss I don't have time for this."

"I will not." Weiss said defiantly staring back and the man neither frigid gaze wavering. Suddenly the man turned around and walked quickly back to his ship. About halfway back he snapped his fingers and pointed into the tent then into the ship. Not looking back, he entered the ship as five of the men entered the tent and pulled out a shouting Weiss. The commotion had woken up Yang she blearily lurched up and staggered to the opening of the tent, the painkillers from the surgery on her arm still affecting her. She pushed aside the cloth to see Weiss struggling to break free of the men's grip when she made eye contact with Yang. Frantically she reached into her sleeve and pulled something out which she promptly tossed at Yang before she disappeared into the airship. Still a bit slow, Yang wasn't able to catch whatever was Weiss threw at her and it bounced to the ground. She bent over and picked it up. It was a small sphere with a red button on it. Taped onto it was a note that read in Weiss's elegant handwriting. "For Ruby, touch red button if in trouble. Yang stared at it for a moment before looking up. The airship already in the air. "Weiss..." Yang muttered as she airship flew out of sight. A few days after they finally managed to get back to Patch and that was when Ruby finally woke up. Explaining everything that had happened to Ruby had made her feel even more depressed than she already was. No longer willing to deal with anything else she shut herself in her room…

The door slamming shut made Yang jump. Breaking her out of her memories, she could tell her cheeks were wet as her father stared at her with worried eyes. "C'mon Yang let's get inside, you've been out here for the better part of an hour. Yang stared at him with wide eyes. "O-oh. okay…" Right before she went inside she looked back out over the now setting sun with one thought in her mind. ' _Please let Ruby be safe.'_


	24. Chapter 24

**This took way longer than it should have, ive been tired lately. This chapter feels awkward to me but then again when dont they. As always let me know what you think and enjoy the story.**

Chapter 2: The Real World

Ruby let out a small sigh as she leaned on her scythe and watched the grim's corpse disappeared before her. It's been eight months since she left home in order to stop Cinder. Eight whole months of not knowing how Blake and Weiss were or if Yang had ever gotten out of her depression. It's been a long and hard journey so far and she still wasn't sure if they were even close to being done. But thankfully with this small odd job done for the town they had passed through they had secured enough supplies to keep going for a few more weeks. "That all of them Ren?" Jaune called out causing Ruby to turn her head and look at them. Ren dropped out of a tree and nodded silently. "I do believe the grim nest has been wiped out." Nora let out a small cheer as Jaune nodded and sheathed his sword. Ruby was incredibly thankful they had come with her on her quest to stop Cinder, no matter what their own personal reasoning...Ruby doubted she would have made it this far without them. But surprisingly the trip wasn't all bad, friendly local in the towns and the grim attacks were few and far in between. "Ready to go Ruby?" Jaune asked as he walked up to her. Ruby smiled and said. "You know it. How's the new gear holding up."

"Great. That blacksmith really knew his stuff. Cmon let's get back before it gets too dark, frankly i'd rather have the inn stay included in our pay than sleeping out here and getting payed in full."

Nora walked over ready to leave. "Yea! Nothing beats a good night's rest in a bed! I'm with Jaune."

"Well then let's get goin!" Ruby said smiling as they set off towards the town.

* * *

Ruby laid awake holding the small device over her as she stared at it for what had to have been the millionth time. She had pressed the small button as per Weiss's written direction eight months ago and since then there was a red light that hasn't stopped blinking since. As she watched the red light slowly blink she couldn't help but wonder if it was a dud, or maybe it knew they weren't in any serious danger. She knew the journey was going to be hard but god did she underestimate how _long_ it would take to walk across an entire continent, especially Anima. She didn't _want_ to lose faith that Tobias would come and help but each day that past she could feel that small hope dwindle more and more. A soft knock on the door broke her out of her revelry. "Come in!"

The door opened and Jaune walked in with a smile on his face. "Good news Ruby! The innkeeper told us not to worry about paying for the night so we will have some more spare cash for the road!"

"That's great! It's very kind of him to do that...but id feel bad for not paying at least a little. What do you say."

"Yea. im cool with that." He paused for a moment looking at the device in Ruby's hand. "So...any luck with contact?"

Ruby gave a small smile but shook her head. "Nothing"

Jaune let out a small sigh and patted Ruby on the knee. "Well, rest up we've got a long walk till we hit the next town."

"Alright. Night Jaune!" Ruby said as he turned to leave the room.

"Night Ruby." Jaune said as he closed the door behind him.

Ruby let out a deep breath as she brought the device back to her full attention. It had practically turned into a ritual, every night she pressed the small red button and the light would stop blinking, then she pressed it again to make it start blinking again. Maybe resetting it over and over would grab his attention, or make the signal reach. Ruby didn't really know but she could always hope. With her new found ritual complete she placed it on the floor next to her pack and went to sleep

The next morning Ruby woke up and looked down at the device once more, its red light slowly but surely blinking. She let out a small sigh and began to pack up. Once she was all ready she stepped outside and knocked on Jaune's door to see if they were up. The door opened almost immediately and Jaune poked out his head and said. "Oh hey Ruby. I was just about to come see if you wanted to grab breakfast with me, Ren is still trying to get Nora up so we will leave once we all eat and are ready."

"Sounds good! Let's go!"

Ruby and Jaune were in the middle of breakfast when Nora came bouncing down the stairs with Ren following at a much more sedated pace. "Gooood morning team JNRR!"

Ren sighed. "Nora JNRR isn't a color. RNJR makes more sense."

Nora whirled around. "RNJR isn't a color either!"

"It actually is." Ren countered. "Mistral military forces have a specific shade of green that they wear called Ranger green. So it is a color."

Nora opened her mouth for a moment before closing it and then opening it one more time. "I need proof! Nothing you've said right now is true unless I have proof!"

"Nora there's no soldiers around for miles how am I supposed to show you proof." Ren said exasperated.

Nora stuck out her tongue. "Not my problem!"

Ren shook his head and said. "I'll find you your proof some day. Lets just eat first."

Jaune and Ruby laughed as they watched Ren and Nora's interactions

* * *

Ruby and Nora watched Ren and Jaune pack up the rest of their supplies as Nora rattled off the checklist.

"Food?"

"Check."

"Water?"

"Check."

"Ammunition and dust rounds?"

"Check."

"Tents? Camp Gear? Toiletries?"

"Check check and...check!"

"...Map?"

Jaune glanced at Ren who simply shook his head. "Uh…" as he dug through the pack. After about a minute he brought it out with a flourish. "Check!"

Ruby giggled as he straightened out the paper to get a better look at it. "So we are all ready to go?"

"Yes, that should be everything." Ren said as he picked up one of the packs and swung it around to his back. As everyone put on their respective packs Ruby said. "So how far until the next town?"

Ren leaned over Jaune's shoulder as they contemplated the map. "Id say a week top till the next populated town."

"Aww man. Oh well. Shall we get going?" Ruby said with her ever present smile.

* * *

If there ever was a great day to walk today would have been one of them. After a short rain shower had passed overhead it had cleared up wonderfully and left the forest at a terrifically comfortable temperature. Team RNJR walked in a blissful silence as they enjoyed the forest around them. Suddenly a large amount of rustling from the bushes had them all on alert. As the rustling grew louder and louder it was clear that it wasn't a simple forest animal. And whatever it was, was headed directly for them. Instantly they all drew their weapons in anticipation of what was coming. The rustling was right in front of them when the bush practically exploded. However instead of a grim or animal instead they were faced with a rather scrawny man who was red in the face, his clothes were torn in places and he was breathing hard. Ruby and the others stared in shock as the man stumbled to a stop in front of them gasping for breath. In a winded panicked tone, he said. "P-Please help! My friends are being attacked by grim!"

Ruby glaced at the others who nodded answering her unspoken question. Ruby turned towards the haggard man and spoke quickly. "Show us where!" The man nodded and scrambled back into the forest team RNJR right on his heels.

Ruby spoke up as they dashed through the undergrowth. "Tell me where they are and I can get there really quick and buy time for you guys to show up!" Jaune hesitated before looking back at Nora and Ren who nodded in agreement, he then turned back to Ruby and said. "Be careful. We will be there ASAP. Ruby nodded and looked at the man for instructions. "Just keep going straight ahead! There's a clearing right before an abandoned town that they attacked us in. Ruby nodded and quickly blurred off in a flurry of rose petals.

As Jaune, Ren and Nora continued their mad dash through the forest following the man they could see the treeline getting brighter and brighter. Then man guiding them however suddenly slid to a stop and fell to his knees. Gasping he pointed forwards. "Over there, please. Please help them." They all nodded and sprinted past the man as they got closer they began to scan the area. "I don't see anyone maybe there farther in the clearing?" Jaune shouted back. They continued to run towards the clearing and right before they reached the edge of the treeline Jaune suddenly felt himself pitch forward. He hit the dirt hard sliding forward a few feet. He heard the thuds of Ren and Nora also hitting the dirt. As he was picking himself up he heard someone scream out. "Get them quick!"

Jaune's head shot up at that statement as he rolled around just in time to see several men drop down from the trees and rush towards them with rope in their hands. Jaune also noticed a decently a thick rope tied low between the trees which they had tripped over in their rush to go help. Before any of them could draw their weapons, the men were upon them. A large burly man with dark hair and arms like a tree trunk went for Jaune. Jaune tried to get to his feet in time but was a second too slow, just as he got up the man tackled him pushing him back onto the ground again. The man then tried wrap the rope around Jaune's hands. Jaune quickly jerked his hands over his head and punched the man in the jaw attempting to push him off, aside from his chin jerking back the man looked otherwise unfazed. As they continued to grapple Jaune heard Nora cry out. "REN!"

Jaune glanced over to see Ren being held face down in the dirt by two men as they wrapped the ropes around his arms and legs. He could see Nora redouble her efforts to get the three men off of her. He felt a shift in weight of the man above him and looked back at him only to take a brutal left hook in his jaw. While he felt his aura cushion the blow he had still hit hard enough to daze him slightly. Giving the man enough time to tie his arms together and the last man to tie his legs up. Once he had finished. He quickly gagged Jaune, then ran over to where the rest of them were trying to subdue Nora. Now that the mountain of a man had gotten off Jaune he quickly looked at his surroundings he saw the men finish tying up Nora then one of them hoisted her off the ground and began to carry her away to what looked like an abandoned town on the other side of the clearing. Wordlessly the men then came and picked up Ren and Jaune all three of them effectively bound and gagged. Jaune worriedly looked around for Ruby and saw a man further back in the clearing walking away with her, Crescent Rose in his hand and Ruby over his shoulder, equally bound as the rest of them.

They were thrown unceremoniously on the ground of what looked to be an old inn. There were a few more people waiting inside the inn who instantly got to work stripping their gear off. Jaune attempted to kick and one who was trying to take Crocea Mors but was promptly punched in his temple. A gruff voice said "Stay still and we will make this as painless as possible." A woman was carrying their gear into another room that was just around the corner and stockpiling it there. Once they had removed their weapons and packs the dug into their pockets taking out their scrolls. Ruby however started to squirm and protest as much as she could as the man pulled out Tobias's beacon. The woman held it up for a closer inspection as one of the other men came and looked at is as well. They muttered to each other before the woman nodded and walked off into the other room. The large dark haired man spoke up. "Colton, go help Amber sift through the stuff. Take anything and everything that can be sold. Bell watch over them. Make sure they don't try anything funny."

"You got it boss." The girl named Bell said. The man named Colton, who had just happened to be the one who led them into the trap simply nodded and walked off into the storage room or wherever they had taken all of their stuff. The large man nodded and walked out of the building followed by three of the others. All that was left in the room was Bell and two unnamed men who promptly dragged chairs over and sat down. All team RNJR could do was glare in their direction as they continued to struggle against the rope. Jaune let out a frustrated groan which caught the attention of Bell. She glanced over and snorted. "Don't get too negative kid. It only makes the grim come faster. We wouldn't want to leave any of that nice weaponry of yours those things will worth quite a large amount of lien.

Jaune narrowed his eyes at her before struggling again. "Now now stop struggling. We wouldn't want to beat the fight outta you, would we? You will still have grim to face later on." She said with a rather sadistic smile on her face. Suddenly the sound of a large amount of glass shattering took their attention away from each other and to the room that had all their gear in. Bell looked at the other two in confusion. "There's no bottles in there are there?" she asked one of them.

"Uh..no? It's just the back offices."

She leaned around the corner and shouted. "Oi Colton, Amber! What was that?"

The answer she got however was one no one was expecting. The door splintered open as Colton flew through it. Bell let out a startled shriek as he flew past and stumbled backwards. Footsteps could be heard making their way down the hallway and right before they reached the end a small red bottle came rolling out. Jaune narrowed his eyes at it, something about it was very familiar he glanced back and the others and he could tell Nora at the very least recognized it. Ruby's muffled gasp made Jaune look over at her who was looking at the hallway joy and relief clear in her eyes. He looked back into the hall and looked at the man who had now stepped fully into view. He had a long duster on that was covering up most of his body but his face was a bit fuller and there was a small scar on his cheek. His hair, once pure black and curly now had a spot of white in it. The most noticeable difference however was the very large war axe he held in his hands. Tobias looked down at the four tied up and gagged and unmistakeable rage could be seen in his eyes. As he spoke Jaune swore he saw faint embers come out of his mouth. "Glad I made it in time."


	25. Chapter 25

**Couple of things. I do have a confession to make...I had actually stopped playing Brave frontier for a while. I stopped right before I started this story I think? A bit weird time to start a story about a game a stopped playing but the RNG had pissed me off a bunch. More importantly however is im starting to get back into it again and that means im playing catch up with all the new content and crap, which is going to suck. But i had noticed that my friends list was lookin a tad bit outdated. Alot of the people i played with had also stopped like me so I did a bit of purging and cleared up some space 8633403353 is the code if u wanna add me ill add as many people as I can. So im trying to level up the new units and stuff that i had gotten and thats a pain as well as beat all the content. But aside from that its not so bad. The other thing I wanted to let you know is im gunna start on a one-shot about Tobias final fight and the after math of it that kinda shows in this chapter (obviously not canon) but you get the point, for all intent and purposes Tobias did all the canon stuff and then did this. So, knowing me and my writing schedule expect that...eventually. Thats really all i needed to say so as always Enjoy the story.**

Chapter 3: Making an Entrance.

Tobias grunted as he pushed with all his might, shaking his head so sweat wouldn't drip down into his eyes. "Tilith… are you seriously just going to watch?" he panted out as he gave another shove.

Tilith, who was floating by the doorway simply smiled at him. "You're almost there. Just a few more feet."

Tobias let out a groan and kept shoving. A few minutes later He finally heard the soft thud of the headboard hitting the wall. Tobias let his arms drop and backed up as he panted for breath and looked around the room. It was very spacious, with windows nearly everywhere letting in a lot of natural light. The floor was hardwood and a very rich dark brown color with white walls with black dressers. In the other room was a large bathroom and huge walk in closet. Wiping the sweat off his brow he took in the room. One of many he was forced to put furniture in, after a week however he had finally moved all the furniture in upstairs and downstairs. "So... you never told me, what exactly are you doing with this house? No one lives in Morgan I certainly hope you aren't trying to sell it… No one would risk the monster attacks, as weak as they are here."

Tilith looked at him with a weird expression on her face. "I'm getting our house ready?" She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"...OUR? House?" Tobias asked. Tobias had noticed a change in Tilith after the last battle they had together. She had gotten a lot clingier than usual, insisting they do everything together.

"Yes, our house. I even had all your stuff moved in." she pointed towards the bathroom in closet which. Tobias looked at her incredulously for a moment before walking into the closet and sure enough all his clothes and armor as well as numerous boxes of his things. "Tilith what the hell? When did you have time to do all this?"

They hadn't been back from slaying the final sealed god for even a week. For the past few days it's been nonstop celebrations with everyone before Tilith finally dragged him out to breezy beach to show him this. "Before we left for Bectas I had told Elder Grah to contract us a nice house here! As well as hire movers."

"He approved...and PAID for all this?" Tobias said stupefied by the situation he was suddenly placed in.

"Of course not. We paid for it." she replied. Tobias felt his blood run cold at that statement and stuck his face through the doorway. "Tilith, you have money?"

She tilted her head and looked at him. "A goddess such as myself has no need for money. We however do have money in your account." she continued to stare at him like he had grown a third eye or something. "They let you into my bank account…?" he asked hesitantly, his fears and suspicions slowly being confirmed. "But of course! I am your goddess and you are my chosen summoner, we are practically partners in every sense of the word. And i'm sick of you getting out of our beach dates! So now we are living here. It always has been a beautiful beach. Now we can go anytime we want!" Tobais could feel a vein in his head start throbbing fiercely and fire begin to rush through his veins. "Tilith. How much did all this cost?"

"In total?" Tilith looked up at the ceiling fan as she mulled over the question. Each second the past Tobias felt more and more dread build up in his stomach. "Three? Three million? Yea. that's what Grah told me it had all added up to." she said with a confirmative nod of her head.

Tobias thought he was going to pop a blood vessel and have an aneurysm. "Th- Three MILLION!? TILITH." Tilith jumped in shock. "What? It's literally on the beach, secluded and practically prime real estate"

"What do you mean what! Don't spend MY money for one and certainly don't spend three million zel of it! What if I needed it!" Tilth stared at Tobias for a moment before grinning smugly at him. "I, as your goddess know how well off you are. And as your partner I know how much they have payed you and all the treasures you find and sell so I know that you can spare some Zel. However, being the beautiful goddess that I am…" she hovered over to Tobias and wrapped him up in a huge. "Can easily recompense anything you desire since you are my favored summoner. "

Tobias stared at her, his face completely unreadable. "Okay, get me my three million back."

Tilith huffed and puffed out her cheeks before slapping Tobias on the chest. "Go unpack the rest of your stuff. The study if you hadn't realized already is down the hall. You can put your books and things there."

"Okay but where is my bedroom."

"In here."

"Oh...okay where is your bedroom?"

"In here."

"Tilith."

"Yes?"

"You can't be serious."

"What? There's no problem? Look at the size of the bed! Besides you should be near me at all times."

"Why?"

"Because I am your goddess and you are my favored summoner." She said like it was such a resounding fact that it was a universal law.

"I... don't think that's a good idea. This house is huge there are plenty of other rooms." he argued.

"Those are for guest and guest only."

Tobias's eye twitched as he glanced at the bed. It was indeed huge, unnecessarily so, it looked like the beds that you find in love hotels. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He did not need these thoughts going through his head right now, he was supposed to be mad at Tilith. Tobias looked back at her to scold her only to be face to face with her, her sky-blue eyes practically sparkling, willing him to accept. "Fine…" Tobias muttered looking away, making a mental note to talk to Grah later about this.

"Excellent!" Tilith said as she clapped her hands looking as pleased as she sounded.

"Wait! How am I supposed to get back and forth to Randall from here!"

"I'll warp you to and from silly. That much is nothing, and if I myself can't do it. My mock unit is certainly strong enough to get you here." she called out from the bathroom. "Now hurry go unpack so we can go to the beach! I have the perfect swimsuit picked out!"

* * *

It was early. Way too early to be awake. Tilith delivered on her promise and they spent literally the entire remainder of the day at the beach. Tobias propped himself up on one arm as he took in the room. It really was a nice house. Far nicer than his home in his village… He glanced over at Tilith who, despite all his scooting as far away as possible was STILL close to him, sleeping soundly. Tobias let out a sigh, sleep was not going to come back to him right now. He got up and walked out of the room into the hallway. The moon illuminated the house wonderfully. Pictures were already lined up, pictures of him and his units on various missions or during breaks or just out on the town hanging out with friends and of course a lot of pictures with just him and Tilith. He had no idea how Tilith got these but he had to admit they were good pictures.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose as his attempted talk with Grah flashed back into his memory. The old man had specifically told Lin and Sera to give him the same message and not patch him through. Talking about how he would make sure he would have a nice long vacation to spend quality time with Tilith, and to thank him later… He stopped outside of his soon to be study. He had moved all his materials in there to unpack completely later and seeing as he wasn't going to get back to sleep any time soon now would be the perfect time to start. There were quite a few boxes… If he really absolutely had to admit to himself, he was a bit of a hoarder. He continued to sift through his papers with notes and old orders as well as sketches of various demons identifying weak points as. He organized them as best as possible and began to stack his books on the shelves. Two hours later, the sun was officially up and it was morning and he was practically done, only two more boxes of things were left. He stood up and looked around and saw just enough space on the top shelf for whatever would be inside.

Just as he was about to open the first box he heard a muffled beeping noise. Confused he glanced around him to see if any of his devices had turned on but none of them had. A few seconds later he heard it again, glancing around confused he looked for whatever could have been making the beeping noise. After a few more seconds it let out a small beep and Tobias decided to sit down and stay silent to better hear where it was coming from. He listened for three more beeps before ripping open the second box. He dug through the papers that were in it and brought out the device, it was a distress beacon. Tobias stared at it owlishly trying to remember why there was a beacon in here and more importantly, why was it going off. He turned his attention to the papers it was buried beneath. It was, like usual notes but on creatures for the life of them he could not remember ever seeing. He kept digging through the box but found nothing that would jog his memory. In hopes the second box was filled with similar stuff he opened it and looked at the first paper. The title was the World of Remnant. Tobias stared at it for a second before he finally remembered. A mixture of dread and anxiety and nervousness developed in his gut as he quickly got to his feet, His hair stood on end as he felt lightning course through him. He quickly turned and ran down the hall the beacon clutched in his hand.

He burst into the room loudly, causing Tilith to wake up screaming. Tobias didn't pause however and ran straight into the closet and grabbed his armor. Tilith walked into the closet as he was putting it on. "What is wrong! Why are you so panicked?"

"I got a distress call from Remnant. I need to get there right now." came his quick reply.

"Remnant?" Tilith repeated in confusion.

Tobias simply tossed Tilith the beacon and kept dressing. "Lock on to the beacon's position and get me a gate there."

Tilith stared at him as he ran out of the room again trying to process what was happening. He came storming back in a few seconds later with his communicator in hand. "Tilith i'll explain everything later but right now I need you to open that gate! Please."

Shaking her head Tilith closed her eyes and focused reaching out for the other beacons signal. Her eyes snapped open. "That world in the middle of literally nowhere!? I can't get you there by myself!"

"Rainbow Goddess Tilith Come!" A flash of light appeared in the middle of the room and then suddenly there were two Tiliths floating in front of him. Tobias then pulled out a red crystal and crushed it and tossed a Fujin to the summoned Tilith and one to the real Tilith which both of them both drank quickly. "Tilith give...Tilith your power to open a gate!"

The summoned Tilith said. "Of course! My favored summoner!" she then turned towards the real Tilith and asked. "Ready?" and the real Tilith nodded. "Tobias, call me soon promise!"

"Of course." Tobias said.

They both raised their hands into the air and simultaneously shouted "Miracle Gate!" and the room burst into rainbow lights. When the lights faded there stood a large rainbow double door. Both Tiliths were panting and looked extremely drained. It shimmered and the colors moved as it stood there. As always Tobias couldn't help but admire how beautiful it was. He shook his and refocused. "Dismissed Tilith." and the summoned Tilith promptly disappeared. He used his communicator to bring out his great war axe, as he hefted it up on his shoulder he closed his eyes and focused, calling out to the fire within him. He could feel the heat rushing through his body. He snapped his eyes open and took a step towards the door. "I hope they haven't been waiting long." and pushed it open.

* * *

It was always a peculiar feeling going through the vortex. Watching the flashes of worlds and colors fly past you but feeling like you're moving and staying in the same place at the same time. The first time Tobias had taken a long Vortex trip he collapsed and threw up for a good twenty minutes. It's not the most pleasant experience but thankfully now he could confidently say he is used to it. He could see the flash light that signifies a world grow brighter and he knew that was his destination. The light slowly faded and turned into another rainbow door which he stopped right infront of, floating in the endlessness of the void. With no hesitation, he pushed against the door, it cracked, then shattered making a glasslike breaking noise as he burst through the opening shards of rainbow falling around him as he blinked to orient himself.

"Ruby!? Weiss?! Yang?! Blake!? Are you okay?!" he said. He looked around the room but didn't see anyone, what he did see however was Crescent Rose on the ground with three other weapons he didn't immediately recognize and four backpacks. Fear began to settle in his heart as he looked behind him, finding two people who he definitely did not recognize staring back at him in shock various devices and bullets surrounding them, including Tobias's beacon.

One was a scrawny black-haired man with dark eyes, Tobias wasn't sure if they were a dark brown or actually black. The other woman had very bright red hair and blue green eyes equally thin. They stared at each other for a moment before Tobias narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low menacing tone. "Answer me very carefully. The owner of that scythe, is she alive?" Instead of a reply the man jumped up, pulling two Sai out of seemingly nowhere. Tobias popped his axe off of his shoulder and spun swiftly swinging the axe underhanded. The sai just barely missed his shoulder guard which was hidden under his duster as he dodged the attack leaving the man open for a solid hit in his chest. Tobias connected viciously, the force of the blow sent the man flying straight through a door Tobias hadn't noticed before. He glanced at the woman who was up against a wall looking at him in fear. Fairly confident she wouldn't try anything he pulled out a Fujin tonic and stepped out into the hallway as he drank. He finishing it he let it drop to the floor as he rounded the corner and saw Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora all bound and gagged on the floor. They looked a bit roughed up, with dirt on their faces and various other places but more or less unharmed Three other people were in the room as well looking stupefied at the man who had just flown through. Tobias felt relief flood through his system before it was replaced with rage at the people who had done this to them "Glad I made it in time." he said, small flames coming out of his mouth.

* * *

Ruby felt like crying. She was so relieved and happy he had shown up. Just when she was starting to accept their fate. She got a good look at him as he stood there eyeing the room. Surprised that for one, he didn't seem to have any of his zombie people around him, whatever he called them. Two he was holding a gigantic war axe. He had gained a lot of muscle as well, but was still rather lean. He had a rather noticeable scar on his cheek. And three was pretty sure Tobias had not been able to breath fire in any quantity. Her inspection was cut short however as Ruby noticed Crocea Mors raised over Tobias's shoulder. Her eyes widened as she let out her best muffled scream to get his attention. It worked, but not in the way Ruby had wanted. As Tobias turned his full attention to Ruby the sword came down right on his shoulder. The sharp clang of metal hitting metal range out as Tobias staggered under the suprise attack, Amber, the woman who had snuck up behind him was obviously not trained in any form of combat and lost her grip on the sword, sending it flying back over her shoulder. Not bothering to try and retrieve it she instantly jumped on his back screaming and clawing at his face, as Tobias spluttered and tried to shake her off. The woman who was watching over them, Bell shook off her shock first and drew her weapon, a short sword in one hand and a small shield that sprung out from a device on her wrist. As she charged forward Nora managed to slide forward a bit and stick out her foot, tripping her and sending her sword flying. Tobias flung the woman off of his back and set her flying into a table, breaking it and rendering her unconscious. Before she was thrown however she grabbed his duster and brought it over his head, covering his eyes. He quickly dropped his axe and threw the duster off of him revealing a simple light armor underneath that was chipped on the shoulder. Underneath he was wearing a short black T-shirt, but the most noticeable thing however was a cross that she had never seen before, it was a regular looking cross but on the top there was a loop instead of and end point on his left arm on the lower part of his forearm. Ruby had never seen such a brightly colored tattoo before, it looked it was shining almost. It was a bright golden red. It reminded her of the fire found deep within a forge or lava even. Her inspection was cut short however as she was suddenly dragged backwards by one of the men who had finally shaken off their shock as well. The man placed a rather sharp looking knife at her throat and with her peripherals should could see Ren in the same situation with the other man. Tobias picked up his axe and looked at them warily, unsure what to do before he took a step forward.

The woman, Bell scrambled to her feet and shouted. "Don't even try it! Their auras are down if you take one more step they die right here." she threatened.

Tobias froze at that as he stared uncertainly at them.

"Drop your weapon."

His eyes flickered between Bell, the men holding Ruby and Ren hostage, and Ruby Ren Nora and Jaune themselves. He finally locked eyes with Ruby, his expression unreadable and simply stared at her for a good five seconds. During that time Ruby felt...something happen between them like a sudden almost tangible connection was grown in the few seconds they stared at each other she felt a bit stronger almost? As if being near him was giving her strength. He locked eyes with each of them in turn before lowering his axe so it was touching the ground behind him.

"Good. Drop the axe and surrender and maybe we will let them go free."

Tobias then gave a large grunt and swung the axe back over his head. "Celestial Crusher!" he shouted as it came arcing down. As soon as the axe bit into the ground a massive cone of fire came bursting out, hurtling towards them. Ruby's eyes widened in shock and horror as the wave of flames came at her at breakneck speed. Even with her speed and the fact that she was tied up she didn't have time to do much more than let out a muffled scream and close her eyes with the rest of them as the inferno enveloped them. With her eyes closed all she could hear were the pained shouts and screams of the bandits and the huge crashing of the wall behind her. She could feel the heat and flickers of flame pass her, but she wasn't being burned. She cracked open her eyes a small bit only to pop them wide open. She was sitting in the middle of a raging inferno golden red flames flying past her and not being harmed at all. She could feel the immense heat but they didn't actually burn her.

The flames dispersed as suddenly as they appeared. Lingering wisps flew up into the air and slowly faded. Ruby could only stare wide eyed in disbelief, the scorched floor still smoking as Tobias picked up his axe, which was also steaming, and jogged over. He knelt next to Jaune who was closest and began to untie him. "Thank the gods you guys are all right, im glad you managed to get to the beacon before you got caught." He said as he worked on the gag and ropes tying Jaune down as he pulled the gag out Jaune shouted. "What was THAT! You could have seriously hurt us!"

"You were fine. I couldn't have actually hurt you guys." Tobias said matter of factly.

"How?" Jaune asked, rubbing his wrist now that they were free.

"Well, I-" Tobias started before shouting outside caught his attention.

Leaving Jaune to remove the bindings on his legs for himself he stood up and walked over to the hole he created in the side of the building. As he looked outside he saw at least twelve people running towards the wounded who were lying just outside. An assortment of weapons in all of their hands. "Oh boy." Tobias said scratching his head. "Okay you guys get untied and get your gear together. I'll buy some time so we can hightail it out."

Jaune nodded and began to furiously work on the knots on his legs.

Tobias gave a contemplative look outside once more before pulling out his cube like device. After a few taps on a holographic screen his axe suddenly disappeared in a shower of white light and he placed the cube back into his pocket and held his hands out. The same shower of light that made the axe vanish appeared around Tobias's hands, when they faded Tobias had twin pistols in his hands. Ruby managed to drag herself and prop up against a wall so she could wiggle against the ropes better and get a better view of what was going on outside. As she watched the men close the distance between them and the people on the floor she blinked, an odd feeling passing through her. Being a sniper, Ruby has always had excellent eyesight but now she felt like she could actually SEE them. She watched them move and she just...knew where their feet would be placed, see could see critical openings in the stances and vulnerable spots where their guards were lowered the most.

"Fire Rod Limera, Bolt Singe Pamela, come to me!" Tobias said as two lights flashed behind him. These two were not the most impressive Ruby had seen, considering what she had witnessed on the news about Ark and Elza and the ones she had come to know when he was going to school here. Simply put, they looked far more human and less imposing. The first one had blond hair and was dressed in a reddish orange armor set with a blue mini skirt and a cloak around her. She held a staff that had a red orange crystal in it. Small flames flickered off her and the staff itself. "I'm ready summoner sir!" she said enthusiastically.

The other woman Ruby could have sworn she had seen before, at least in passing somehow she and white hair and wore all purple armor with a sword that four long blades protruding out of it. "Let us go summoner! I will crush our foes." she said with a determined glint in her eye.

As soon as they had appeared Ruby blinked. The strange advanced vision she had vanished. She shook her head and dismissed it in favor of breaking out of her bindings faster.

Tobias poked his head out of the window and saw a few men kneeling over the girl and two men he had blown out. The girl and one of the men managed to stagger to their feet while pointing towards hole while the third one seemed down for the count. Tobias glanced back at the girl who he had thrown into the table and the man he sent flying through the door. They both seemed to be soundly knocked up but Tobias wasn't taking chances anymore. "You may want to tie those two up as well when you get the chance." He said before jumping out of the hole, Pamela and Limera right behind him.

As he hit the ground Tobias did a quick combat roll and jumped up, guns pointing at the group of bandits. Pamela and Limera right behind him. For a moment, no one said anything. "My friends and I are going to gather our stuff and leave. No more problems no one else gets hurt." Tobias watched as they turned slightly around to look at a large man in the back who eyed Tobias for a moment before muttering something Tobias couldn't quite catch. The group looked back at Tobias for a moment before slowly lowering their weapons and splitting down the middle. Wary but satisfied that it seemed like they were going to get out of this situation pain free Tobias slightly lowered his pistols so they were still slightly pointed at them but they were facing the ground. As they parted more and more he could see the feet of the man he had wounded and kneeling over him was another woman who seemed to be tending to his burns. Once they had fully separated the woman's head snapped up and her arm shot out, Tobias instinctively dodged to the side as something went flying past his peripheral. A shout drew Tobias's attention back to the group of people who were now charging forwards. Tobias grimaced as Pamela and Limera lept to either side of him weapons ready as Tobias squeezed the triggers "They just don't quit do they" he spat out. Small jets of flames shot out from the muzzles searing into the ground, forcing them to stop their advance. Not giving them any time to figure out what was going Tobias angled the gun slightly higher and fired once more. This time the flames hit the ground and ricochet off flying right into the legs of the front-line bandits who screamed as their clothes were promptly set on fire. As the first line of bandits fell to the ground in panic trying to put out the flames Tobias let out a small smirk and pointed at the rest of them. "You're about to get incinerated." He gestured for them to come to them with his pistol. "Walk this way."

A man with a scimitar came charging first swinging at his neck viciously. Tobias ducked under the swing and held the barrel to his stomach. "Limera Pamela go!" Tobias shouted and they instantly dashed past him into the rest of them as he squeezed the trigger, flames wrapping around his stomach and lower back. The man fell backwards, his stomach a seared mess and the smell of burning skin began to waft into the air. Tobias didn't give it a second glance and charged into the fight with Pamela and Limera.

It took Ruby Jaune Ren and Nora fifthteen minutes to get out of their bindings and grab all their gear. As they rushed to the hole in the wall to see what was happening. The scene they came upon was intimidating slightly. Patches of the earth were seared and smoking, various weapons were lying around mingled with bodies that were on the ground some had slashes while others had burns. There were still at least seven fighters left and slowly they were overwhelming the three. Tobias was in gun to hand combat with the leader, his weapon were knuckles with large blades at the end which he kept swiping and slashing at Tobias at. Tobias continued to duck and roll under the swipes as he tried to get a shot in however the man was obviously well versed in martial arts and stopped Tobias from firing at him by blocking his wrist. Pamela was currently on the defensive while taking on three others and Limera was in the same situation. Twirling her staff fiercely to deflect attacks and send fire flying. Ruby Jaune Ren and Nora all dropped down from their vantage point and charged in to help. As they got closer it was obvious they weren't doing so hot. Pamela and Limera were looking ragged, cuts on multiple places on their bodies and their clothes were ripped in places. Tobias was equally battered, some more scratches on his armor and he had blood dripping out of his nose his cheek was also swollen. Tobias noticed them running over and shouted "Don't come closer! Ill hit you this time if you don't!"

Pamela was sent backwards sliding into the dirt as she slid to a stop near Tobias her sword on the ground, and Limera quickly jumped backwards so she was next to Tobias swinging the staff around him she forced the bandit leader to jump back, breaking Tobias from their grapple. Pamela propped herself up on an arm. "Do it."

"Ready Limera?" Tobias asked breathlessly

"Always summoner!" she replied.

As the bandits converged on them Ruby started to run forward again before being forced to stop. Ren's hand on her shoulder.

"Bare Flame, Fergo!"

"Stellar Breaker!"

Tobias and Limera began to spin rapidly spraying fire everywhere, Tobias fired quickly and a tornado of flame burst into existence, engulfing them and the bandits.

Ruby and the others had to step back a few more feet because this time, the heat from the flames were absolutely scorching, they could feel the heat begin to burn unlike what had happened in the house

The flames dissipated as they twirled into the air. And around Tobias Limera and Pamela were a few badly burned bodies of the bandits while the others who must have had auras were simply passed out. The air around them was still noticeably super heated with the way it shimmered. Tobias dropped his arms, his pistols still steaming and began to walk towards them. He looked far better, upon closer inspection his nose had stopped bleeding, his swollen cheek was back to normal. The only way you could tell he was in a fight was the fact that he was breathing heavily and his armor was scratched up.

"Thanks for not coming closer. That would have made that fight a bit more chaotic than it already was."

"Okay, What was that!" Ruby exclaimed. "Since when could you breath fire and make stuff explode like KABOOM." as she spoke she gestured around excitedly. "And since when did you learn how to use weapons?! I thought you couldn't fight! And what kind of fighting technique was that with your guns! I've never seen anyone but Ren go that close to someone with their guns. And Ren does that because he's a ninja and that's really cool so in the time you were away did you become a ninja?" Ruby rapid fired question after question.

"Ruby please, are you going to actually let me answer?" Tobias said, trying to get an edge in wordwise.

Jaune clapped his hand over Ruby's mouth effectively muffling her. "I think he's trying to answer you Ruby but you aren't giving him a chance." he said with a chuckle.

Tobias gave a wry grin. "Let's get out of here first though. We can talk when we get to where we are going. I'd rather not be here when whoever is capable of getting up does so."

They all nodded in agreement and set out the way they came with Tobias following. As they passed the tripwire that got them into this predicament Nora snapped it in half with a strong kick, sticking her tongue out at it as they walked past.


	26. Chapter 26

**Im still doing this! Please forgive me for the uncalled for hiatus, it was very much unplanned on my part. But during that time I did a bit of thinking on the story. I do want to take this on its own direction after a while but I have to find the right moment for it. and another thing I was just kind of thinking about is the summoner's interactions in this world as a whole. Technically in the third arc of brave frontier the summoner is strong enough to fight literally gods themselves so I struggled with how to make this seem as "fair" as possible because its no fun if team RWBY or RNJR or whoever gets into a fight and the summoner swoops in and wipes out the opponent in one move or whatever. Frankly that just makes for a simple and boring story when theres no sense of danger and that maybe just maybe the summoner cant do this. I thought and thought and frankly realzied that the summoner has almost never done any of that stuff by themselves totally. (maybe im wrong I havnt caught up in the 3rd arc yet) but he has always had units or someone to help him fight. So yea while he will for sure be stronger than alot of people fullblown huntsmen and people with high levels of training will prove to be a match because he in the end is still human. And ill have some other handicaps ive thought about that I feel make atleast a little sense but nothing rediculous. And in my mind the only reason units are as formidible as they are is because they are already dead, kinda hard to fear death when you cant REALLY die. (aside from grim gunk). But thats all I wanted to say, and let me know your thoughts on it im rather curious to know if its a good idea. More chapters are for sure coming out soon so please enjoy the story**

Chapter 4: Catching Up

They trudged along in silence, Jaune and Ren leading the way as they awaited Pamela and Limera to come back and notify them if they were being followed. After another five minutes of walking they caught up to them, notifying Tobias that no one was following.

Tobias let out a sigh. "Good, I was worried there would be some vengeance crazed mob chasing us. So, you guys okay?"

Tobias's voice prompted everyone else to stop and turn around and stare at him, questions burning in their eyes. Tobias stopped walking and eyed them. "What?"

"What!?" Ruby spoke up. "Since when could you shoot fire! I thought you couldn't fight or do any of that fancy magic stuff!"

"Well, i've had some stuff happen…"

"What kind of stuff?" Jaune asked.

"I had to save summoning itself. And to do that I had to learn how to fight in a hurry long story short. Tilith, my goddess gave me a blessing that enhanced my ability to control my elemental affinity as well as use the other elements. And I learned how to use a bunch of different weapons! I use them as conduits so I can use my brave bursts." He said, as he was explaining a small bit of pride snuck into his voice

"Wait wait wait. Save summoning? Isn't that just like...a thing you can do?" Jaune asked.

"Well, yes and no. Technically summoning was a." Tobias made an air quote gesture. "Curse on humanity but in the end it was more of a curse to spite the remaining gods. In its essence it was a power certain people could obtain by being able to go through the gate. And like everything created it can be destroyed if you find the origin."

"Man everything in your world seems so complicated." Nora said with a frown. "Makes my head kinda hurt thinking about it."

"From my perspective your world is rather complicated as well." Tobias said as he shrugged. "That's just how it is I guess.

"One more thing Tobias!" Ruby said. "When you were fighting I noticed you kept shooting at the ground. Why didn't you shoot at them the entire time?

Tobias looked over and held up one of the pistols. They were designed and blessed or a very specific and ancient form of fighting. The actual technique name has been long lost but more or less it can be understood as GunFu."

"Gun...Fu…?" Ren echoed incredulously.

"Yea its a technique that allows gun wielders to get close and personal with those who have swords without too much of a disadvantage. Bouncing the bullets off of objects for different angles of attacks.

"That's...AWESOME!" Nora said as she put her hands in the air. "It's just like what you do Ren you can't deny it!"

As Nora was talking to Ren about his "gunfu" Jaune spoke up. "What do you mean by blessed? That sounds kinda cool.

"Oh, a blessing is something like...a curse i suppose for examples sake but good. This particular blessing makes the gun easier for novices to use. But i've gotten the hang of it now so it doesn't really do anything for me aside from shoot.

Nora and Ruby both let out hums of appreciation. "Hey can I see one?" Nora asked, already reaching for the gun.

"Oh! Me too me too!" Ruby cried out.

"I guess." Tobias said as he handed them both a pistol

Nora excitedly grabbed it out of his hand and instantly began to aim it and point it at various trees and woodland animals that just happen to scamper into view. "I thought you said I was suppose to be a gunfu master when I hold this?" She said with a pout. She aimed into the air and pulled the trigger only for it to give an empty clicking sound. "What gives? I want to shoot fire too!" she whined

Tobias let out a small laugh. Yea I actually looked into that when I had left the first time after all the craziness had died down. Technically we aren't the same species, compositions are different which allows us to do different things based on how we evolved in our respective worlds. You have no magic channeling abilities, which is what the guns use to harness their power so you wouldn't actually be able to use them."

As soon as he finished speaking the loud crack of gunfire made him jump. A brilliant silver bolt of energy and rose petals was ricocheting around the forest bouncing from tree to tree until it finally hit a rock and came flying back towards Tobias's face. He let out a yelp and quickly ducked as the bolt flew past him. No sooner after he duck did another yelp sound out followed by a thud. He glanced behind him to see Limeria flat on her back, Silver rose petals strewn about everywhere on her face and the ground around her. She let out a huff and the petals on her face flew off revealing a very unamused expression. Pamela stared down at her with a slight smile on her face as she stuck out her hand to help Limera up. Tobias whirled around and looked at Ruby who was looking at the still smoking gun in shock.

"How...did you shoot that." Tobias asked slowly.

"I-I dunno I pulled the trigger because you said it wouldn't shoot and it just went bang!" Ruby stuttered.

Tobias narrowed his eyes and held his hand out towards Nora who handed it back. Tobias inspected it for a moment before pointing it into the air and firing. A flaming bolt shooting into the sky and disappearing.

He then put the gun in Ruby's hand. "Pull the trigger." He ordered pointing towards the sky. Ruby nodded and aimed the pistol towards the air and fired. As she pulled the trigger a brilliant silver bolt shot out into the air. Silver rose petals came cascading down as the shot vanished into the sky.

Tobias slowly looked down from the sky to the red read staring back at him. "You...can use magic?"

"M-magic? Of course not I don't know how to use magic and the closest thing we have is our semblances? Are you sure the gun you gave Nora didn't have the safety on?" Ruby said.

"The guns don't have safeties it channels and concentrates the user's magic so if they don't have any affinity for it, it won't fire….say what you want Ruby but i'm thoroughly convinced you have some level of magic. Otherwise the gun wouldn't have went off. And the silver bolt was quite odd… do you know anything about why that would be? It wasn't an element unless counting the rose petals it would be earth…"

"Well. My uncle told me a story about silver eyed people and how they are special but other than that he didn't really elaborate…" Ruby said.

"Hmmm. I guess that will be something to look into. In the meantime i'm really curious so you can have these." Tobias said as he handed Ruby the other pistol. "As well as this." Tobias brought out a small spherical item. "It's a type of recording device that gathers information on whoever has it in its possession. Maybe it will give us some insight onto what that was exactly."

"Thanks Tobias but don't you need these to fight? Id feel bad about taking your weapon." She said holding the pistols hesitantly.

"Pfft don't worry about that. I literally have tons of weapons I can use with varying degrees of mastery."

Ruby eyed him with curiosity. "Tons?"

"Yea I have my own arsenal of weapons that I pick and choose from." he said.

"An, arsenal?!" Ruby asked excitedly. "Ohh will you show me will you show me!

"Once we get to where we are going i'll be glad to." Tobias said chuckling. "Oh, speaking of which. Where are we even going? And how did you guys get split up from the others?"

"Others?" Nora echoed. Looking confused.

"Yea, the rest of team RWBY. and Pyrrha, that's her name right?" Tobias said looking at them. "Oh yea hows Yang doing? I hope she didn't freak out too much over her arm." Tobias continued, unaware of the somber mood that had taken over the others.

"Uh. Tobias… actually…" Jaune said slowly.

* * *

Tobias trudged ahead silently, emotions stewing as he couldn't decide between regret grief or rage.

Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren silently watched as he had processed the information as Jaune broke the news of what happened that night after he left. When Jaune finished Tobias only said "give me a little." and walked ahead of them at a brisk pace, even his units gave him space to brood.

* * *

After an hour or so of walking Tobias finally slowed down enough for them to catch up. As they walked up to his side Ruby noticed his Tattoo changing from a pitch black color to a emerald green. Before Ruby could comment on it Tobias spoke softly. "I'm...sorry for your losses."

Jaune put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it Tobias, there's nothing more you could have done in that situation." he said with a sad smile. "I think in the meantime however we should set up camp and get some rest for tomorrow. We have another long day ahead of us."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they began to set up their campsite for the night.


	27. Chapter 27

**This chapter only took a while because i had to explain a good chunk of stuff and I kept going back and making sure that it made sense more or less (hopefully more) but anyway between that and finding time to write is the reason but hey atleast this came out within two months so...hurray. Anyway as always if you have questions or comments or anything you want to say in general dont hesitate to ask me or leave a review they always make me happy to see. And of course as always, enjoy the story.**

Chapter 5: Forging ahead

Ruby jolted up from her sleeping back looking around panicked, as she took in her surroundings she let out a small sigh and rubbed her eyes. Her nightmares have all been the same as of late always the same scene played out before her over and over again. Pyrrha gasping for air with an arrow lodged in her chest, just like the first time it happened she could hear herself scream out for her then everything went black and she woke up in a cold sweat. A few months ago, Ruby had thought Pyrrha had started to haunt her because she had heard her voice every few nights but it had turned out to be a recording Jaune used for training. That little discovery had been a huge relief for her.

Re-fluffing her pillow with the intent of getting back to sleep she took a moment to gaze the surrounding forest and look at what she could in the campfire light and took some deep calming breaths she put her head back down on the pillow listening to the crackle of the fire as she tried to get back to sleep. Usually it would have worked, Ruby always did love camping and all aspects of it the fresh air that is hard to find anywhere else the smell and sounds of a campfire cooking over an open fire and just relaxing with nature all those little things she just always loved to do. The usually comforting crackle of the campfire however was not present. Ruby sat up and looked out into the forest trying to convince herself she wasn't going crazy it was still as bright as it was when she had first woken up but there was still quiet as a mouse aside from the occasional owl or small animal scrambling through the undergrowth. Thoroughly confused Ruby turned around to look at the fire.

The fire itself was burning low and hot, just the embers remained glowing warmly. As she looked past the fire she finally saw what, or rather who was making the light. Standing just behind the dying fire was a girl who couldn't have been older than twenty-five, she was of average height that was practically _on_ fire. She had on orange and red armor battle skirt on with deep red rubies embedded in them and a winged crest at her chest on her head she was wearing a large crown that came down the sides of her head almost like a cowl with flower like petals in shades of blue red and orange designed like a flame. The amount of hair she had rivaled and probably beat Yang's she had two long two tails that were curled around some hair product completed with a cascade of blond hair that went all the way down her back right in front of a gigantic flaming flower of some sorts, if Ruby had to wager a guess she would say a lotus. In each hand she held two moderately large and familiar looking war axes but Ruby wasn't too sure seeing as they were encompassed in a red flame.

The woman wasn't looking at her or any of them, her focus was deep into the surrounding forest as she silently scanned the darkness. Unsure as to she was Ruby slowly scooted to where her scythe was lying, keeping her eyes on the woman and moving as silently as possible. Either she wasn't silent enough or the woman had a sixth sense because the instant Ruby moved the woman spun around her blazing red eyes meeting Ruby's. Ruby froze as they stared at each other,

unsure what to do she risked a glance towards Crescent Rose before looking back at the woman, who had actually turned around, leaving Ruby to stare at her side. "So that nightmare of yours finally woke you up huh?" She said suddenly.

"W-what?" Ruby asked.

"The nightmare you were having, you were mumbling and tossing and turning for the better part of an hour because of it. It was quite distracting." She said the last part as if she had been seriously inconvenienced by the fact.

"I'm…sorry?" Ruby said unsure of what to make of this woman.

The woman let out a hum of acknowledgment as if she accepted the apology but didn't say anything else

"What's your name?" Ruby asked.

The woman turned to face her. "Michele."

"What a nice name." Ruby said with a smile. "My name is-

"Ruby. I know." Michele interrupted. "You forget I know everything summoner knows."

"A-ah…" Ruby trailed off. Her intended conversation starter being shot down quickly. She leaned back on her hands and looked at her bed then back at the woman who had gone back to looking around. She let out a small sigh as she figured sleep wouldn't come back to her easily. "Anything interesting happen while we were asleep?"

"Nothing but obnoxious bugs that keep buzzing around." Michele replied, the frown evident in her voice. "Honestly, I don't even know why he called me out here, he needs to recover properly…" she muttered.

"Recover?" Ruby asked. Causing her to turn around to look at her once again. "What do you mean?"

Michele stared at her with a slight frown on her for a moment before finally speaking "Summoners…last fight in another world was very taxing on him mentally and physically…" she said slowly "So much so that he wasn't physically able to return to his home until abouta week ago or so. Physically, he is fine, the goddess Tilth took care of him but she cannot affect his mental health in the summoning aspect he seriously strained himself to defeat that god and has not yet recover from it. Summoning someone as strong as me right now will only slow down the recovery process, even if it is only me."

"W-will he be alright?!" Ruby asked worriedly.

"...yes" she answered after a moment. "We all simply worry he might push himself too far on accident. Since the first time was our fault...he's just too stubborn, always desiring to help others despite his own condition" she let out an annoyed sound and embedded one of her axes into the ground extinguishing the enveloping flames as she swiped at something in face. "If you want to ask or know any more talk to him about it." She said with an air of finality. Ruby thought back on the day trying to think of any instance of Tobias being in any kind of pain as she thought more and more a thought struck her. "Tobias used your axe earlier, today didn't he?" She Ruby asked as she stared at the axe in the ground.

Michele looked at her quizzically "No? Summoner cannot use my weapons. There a part of my essence as a unit it can't be wielded by others."

Ruby frowned. "No I'm sure of it, they look exactly like the one he used when he came to save us the only difference is that his wasn't always on fire!"

Michele's face was scrunched up in confusion. "That can't be possible, my axes were destroyed when I jumped through the vortex into Be-" she cut herself off abruptly, her eyes wide.

"Are you… okay?" Ruby asked the now frozen woman hesitantly.

"Bectas…" she whispered out. She shuddered before looking at Ruby, there was something in her eye that hadn't been there just moments before. "Thank you...Ruby. Go back to sleep now… you all have a long day tomorrow."

Wh-what? Are you okay?" Ruby asked a tad freaked out at the uncalled for and unexplained outburst.

"Yes, I'm fine, I remember now and I know what could have happened."

"Ooookay." Ruby said as she got comfortable. "I'm..glad I could help?"

The lack of response made Ruby figure she was back to being ignored. Tired from trying to make sense of what had just happened she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

The sound of birds chirping and the sun piercing through the leaves right into his eyes finally roused Tobias from sleep. Letting out a groan Tobias attempted to roll over to block out the light. Mid roll however he bumped his head into something slightly warm and incredibly hard. He jerked his head back and opened his eyes to reveal a metal boot, blinking he rolled over so he was looking up and staring into the blazing reds of Michele's. Tobias blinked, then blinked again before propping himself up on his elbows. "I know for a fact I've tried to tell you all to not act so...creepy, it's off putting when you stare at people like that."

"I was simply just about to wake you summoner, they are just about down breaking camp and I didn't want you to lag too far behind." She said before she shifted her feet. "also...I... remember, summoner what happened after I passed through the gate. I know what happened...Summoner, you made me glow. Now help me release the rest of my light.

Tobias stared at her with wide eyes before slowly getting to his feet. Silently he grabbed his travel pack and pulled out his communicator and began scroll through the content. After a moment he finally selected an item and a electronic whirring noise filled the air before a flash of light emitted from the box. Now in his hand was a small beautifully luminescent sphere. He held it out expectantly as Michele grabbed it. Almost immediately the stone reacted, its white light turned red and glowed even brighter than before as Tobias let out a disbelieving chuckle and Michele smiled.

"That's incredible…I wonder what brought this change about…" Tobias said.

"You have my axe." she replied.

Tobias gazed at her curiously. "I've had it for a long time now, why are you just now resonating with the stone?"

Michele narrowed her eyes at that and poked him in the chest. "Because this is the first time you've called on me in months!"

Tobias scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Aha…I guess you're right. It has been a while. I'm missing everything but one thing but I don't know how I'm going to get it…I'm not sure how the vortex works in this world. Since it runs on a calendar."

Michele scoffed. "Then base it off of the calendar from El Gaia since they based it off of the vortex shifting, come on summoner you're smarter than that."

"Ah...you're right…" he said. "I don't have enough energy to get a full squad going...do you think you can do it by yourself?"

Michele snorted. "Of course, I can who do you think I am?"

Tobias just smiled before closing his eyes. "Alright give me a second it's kinda hard to find the entrance here."

After a few moments the area in front of Tobias lit up and another rainbow door had appeared. Tobias pushed it open with a groan revealing a temple like area with fire spewing from everywhere. The floor and walls had a eerie red glow to them as Michele took a confident step through the entrance. "I'll be back shortly." She said as the door closed behind her

Tobias packed up his sleep gear in a hurry before turning towards the others who were currently consulting a map. "So, at this rate it shouldn't take us more than two days to reach the next town, unfortunately the little encounter we had put us a little behind schedule but once we get there we should be able to restock on supplies and continue on our way." Ren said.

Tobias walked up to them. "Morning guys, sorry to make you wait."

They all glanced up. "Oh, it's no problem! You looked like you needed the rest to be honest, you were drooling and everything." Ruby said with a smile. "It gave us time to plan our route anyway!"

"Oh, okay cool." Tobias said while wiping his mouth.

Ren walked back over to the camp fire which had been re-ignited and pulled a small pan out of his pack as well as some meats and vegetables. "We can leave after breakfast, hows that sound?" He said as he began to lather the pan in some kind of fat from the meat bag.

The aroma of food only continued to get stronger as they all sat around the campfire and watched Ren, occasionally Ren would ask for something from his pack and Nora would quickly grab it and toss it to him. Leaving Ruby Jaune and Tobias to sit and relax. "So, Tobias I wanted to ask you the other day but I never got the chance." Ruby said.

"Yea? What did you want to ask?"

"What's up with your tattoo? You didn't have it when you were here the first time and it keeps changing colors and stuff."

Tobias looked at the tattoo on his arm. "Oh yea, I forget that it's there now sometimes to be honest. For lack of a better term it's the mark of Tilith's blessing. You know how I said that people choose one element to attune to and learn skills that way right?"

"Uh...Maybe?"

"Well if you really want me to explain it again I can do it later I guess. Basically, in our world we attune to an element and we can use that in day to day life or in combat. Her blessing allows me to re attune myself with all the elements. So I'm not limited to just my original element. The color that shows is the element im currently attuned to. Green, red, blue, yellow, black, and white. Earth, my original element, fire, water, lightning, dark, and light." He explained.

"Ooooh...so you can go from all flamey to watery whenever you want?" Ruby asked with awe in her voice.

"Kind of, I can't just switch elements whenever I want I have to focus for a while to de attune and re attune myself. Elements also represent emotions, people who attune to fire are usually quick to anger or have a lot of passion. Earth is usually more mellow and trustworthy. Although there are some people who attune to elements that are polar opposites of their personalities…" Tobias paused for a moment as he took a breath. "Another effect of the blessing is if I'm not making a conscious effort to stay on a certain element after a time the elements change with my emotions. If i get really nervous my body will attune to lightning, if I'm angry ill attune to fire and so on and so on.

"Do you like...feel it changing? Isn't it uncomfortable?" Jaune asked.

"Uncomfortable? Not really, since from my world we live with it and sometimes I can feel it but other times I don't notice, like I said I've gotten used to it."

"Breakfast is ready!" Ren called out, interrupting further conversation. "Come get it before Nora eats it all...I'm serious."

Laughing, Jaune and Ruby scrambled to their feet and ran over to where Ren was dropping food on Nora's place and Nora who was instantly devouring it. Tobias stood up and walked over as well and grabbed a paper plate that had been laid out for him. As they ate team RNJR shared stories of their travels and what they have been doing up to the point Tobias got there. Tobias shared stories of his own travels and talked about new skills he acquired along the way.

"One of your units you used yesterday, Pamela right?" Jaune suddenly asked. "We met her before kind of, when we got attacked by that giant lizard thing you used her to kill it. But last time she was very…impressive and yesterday she was...More human looking I guess would be the best way to describe her.

Tobias took one last bite of his food before setting his plate down. "Oh, that's simple. It's still Pamela, but a different version of Pamela."

"Tobias...I don't think it's as simple as you're saying it is…" Jaune said staring at him dumbfounded.

"Uh...sorry I guess you're right since I'm coming from my world where this is kinda common knowledge." Tobias sat up. "So basically, as you are aware the units I use for battle are already dead, right?"

Jaune and Ruby nodded and Nora and Ren directed their attention towards Tobias as well.

"So basically, since they are dead. It is practically impossible to pull their spirits back at their original strength. So, what happens is you end up summoning fragments of them. It's still the same person with their original memories of who they were and what they did but they true strength was divided into different aspects, which we call types. You have Lord, which is the closest you will get to the original person's strength but toned down across the board. Then you have Anima, which the unit having its original...vitality. To make it easier to understand how much aura they would have in your world. Breaker is the unit having the original's strength, how hard they can hit. Guardian is the originals defensive capabilities, how well they are able to take a hit. And finally, Oracle which is the originals affinity for healing quickly. You guys following me so far?"

Jaune nodded slowly. "I think so?"

"Cool." Tobias said. "Now, because of this fragmented power it actually makes multiple versions of the original person the Pamela you saw yesterday was still Pamela but at a point in time where she wasn't as strong. The Pamela you saw all those months ago was her at the end of her life or when she stopped growing stronger. With some units their past varies. So, if I have one Pamela that's one type I can still summon a different Pamela, they are one in the same but at the same time completely different because one Pamela will have completely different memories than the other. About her past and about her time being my unit."

"So, what happens if you make her as strong as the old Pamela?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing aside from her regaining the last of her past memories and reaching the strength of the other Pamela, their strength will vary based on their type but they are still one and the same."

"Do they know the other exists?" Ren asked from the side.

"Yes, they know of each other's existence." Tobias responded.

"And they don't get weirded out or anything?" Nora asked.

"It depends on the personality of the unit. The later Pamela was a rather angry person. But for the most part they tolerate each other. Other units that meet each other sometimes don't get along well."

"Huh...I don't know how I would feel knowing there was another me walking around somewhere…" Ruby said contemplatively. "That's pretty weird."

"But why did this Pamela look so much different?" Jaune asked.

"So, when we fight, we channel our elemental abilities into our attacks and defense. The stronger we get the more elemental power we can harness, and eventually they reach a point where we can't store all the power inside of our bodies. Instead it shows around us, not unlike an aura and depending on the user it manifests itself in different ways or they shape it into something else that can suit their needs. The Pamela you saw yesterday was a weaker version who didn't have as much strength or elemental power."

"So… the larger their aura." Ren held up quotation marks as he said aura. "The stronger they are?"

"Exactly." Tobias said with a smile.

"Well what about you?" Nora asked. Why didn't you have a fiery aura when you were fighting. You seemed pretty strong back there?"

"Thanks to Tilith's blessing my body can hold a lot more elemental power than most because I can use all the elements at my disposal, so mine isn't too visible. You can still see it if you look closely though."

"Man that's...all so…" Ruby trailed off

"Weird?" Tobias cut in with a knowing smile.

Ruby laughed and stood up. "Yea, thinking about your world of zombies might give me a headache so let's get going."

"She's right." Ren said as he stood up. "We have a lot of ground to cover, we should get going.

Tobias stood up as well. "Alright, but just hang on one second. She took longer than expected.

"What?" Jaune said before a burst of light suddenly appeared.

Michele stood before Tobias with a grin, her face was slightly bruised and it looked like she had burn marks on her arms. Nonetheless she held out both of her hand which had multicolor lights floating in them that were constantly shifting and changing. Wordlessly Tobias held out his hand and instantly the lights darted from Michele's and entered Tobias. Tobias's was visibly trying to keep a smile off his face as he spoke. "That took you longer than usu-"

"The Miracle Totem was unexpected and left me less than prepared." Michele snapped. Her smile instantly disappearing in place for a glare.

Tobias let out a cough that suspiciously sounded like a laugh. "Well, now that your back...are you ready?"

"What kind of idiotic question is that? Just do it already." she snapped.

"Do what?" Jaune asked.

"Do you remember when I said the unit's various forms keep track of their strength at certain periods of times in their lives?"

"Yea?"

"Well you're about to experience it." he said as he threw his hands out.

A giant circle suddenly appeared around Michele, seven intricate glyphs in equal distances around the circle, in each point a light flashed and something appeared. In the first two points to absolutely gigantic totems appeared, they had a deep red color with a gold trim around them. They looked like totems that old faunus would make back before the war. Ruby absent mindedly noted. Albeit these didn't have grim heads and the totems the faunus made didn't have...arms… and flames spouting out of their heads. In the third slot. A slightly smaller totem like thing was standing there but this one was all white and had wing like protrusions coming out of its back. The fourth had the smallest totem of all. It had red and white and was perhaps half the size of the larger one with a small flame coming out of its head. The fifth slot had a floating red pot in it, a moment later a rather large rabbit-esq creature popped its head out, its ears spilling over the side as it gazed at them. In the sixth and seventh slot two chest floated, one looked like a plain chest while the other looked completely metal. Suddenly both chest flew open with a loud growl causing Ruby and Jaune to jump back in surprise as they tensed up. The metal chest suddenly sprouted teeth and a tongue as they normal looking chest had a miniature dragon spout out. They lunged forwards causing everyone but Tobias to jerk back and reach for their weapons. But as soon as they hit the line in the circle lightning arched from the point of impact and pushed them backwards.

Tobias let out a chuckle. "Nasty things, mimics."

He put his hands down and reached into his backpack, pulling out a bright stone. "Here we go Michele!" he said. As he tossed the stone into the circle where Michele caught it. As soon as she did the circle erupted in a blinding like, forcing everyone to turn away. After a few moments a voice rang out strongly through the light. "I have the best partner. No matter how bad things get, I can count on a rescue every time!"

They all turned back around and watched the light become dimmer and dimmer.

"Summoner, Is your resolve clear? I'm always ready to take responsibility, to the depths of my soul!"

She said as the light completely faded. Ruby's jaw dropped in utter shock. Her armor turned into a almost full body suit, her belly exposed. Her tiara was now a large metal crown. Physically she looked almost the same. Perhaps a few inches taller and her muscles were more pronounced. The same long blond hair and pigtails. But her flames were even taller and burned blue hot and flames constantly pulsed off of her. But that wasn't the shocking part, even Tobias looked stunned. In one hand she had her axe, blazing blue and red like the rest of her, but in the other hand she held an enormous minigun that would have made Coco completely green with envy.

Her red eyes locked onto Ruby's. There was far more emotion and power in them than she remembered last night. "I suppose I have you to thank for this Rosy." she said with a smile.

"Rosy?" Ruby questioned?

"She has a habit of giving people pet names." Tobias said muttered in response as he stared at her

Her smile then immediately turned smug as she looked at him. "Do you like what you see summoner?" she said turning to face him.

He blinked and shook his head. "Just surprised at your…. Choice in weaponry though I shouldn't be surprised.

"Crabby will always be with me like this, I don't need to worry anymore." she said as she lifted the gun with ease.

"So I see, what's your name?" Tobias said, causing Ruby to look at him quizzically.

"Don't you know their names?" she asked.

"Michele." she said seemingly unoffended in the slightest. "Vesta Padma Michele."

"Their names don't necessarily change but rather their titles do. Well some do change their names." Tobias explained. "Over time they gain new titles as they make new marks on the world. She used to be called Wildfire Lotus Michele."

A laugh interrupted Ruby's next question. "This feels so much better. I almost feel like myself again!" Michele said smiling.

Tobias smiled. "I'm glad but I don't have time to strengthen you right now we need to get moving. Next time we stop I'll get back to you." he said.

"I'll hold you to it summoner. I've waited far too long for this." Michele said as she closed her eyes.

"Dismissed." Tobias said and she vanished into rainbow colored lights.

"Well." Nora said looking around. "That was a thing."

 **Second authors note cause I completely forgot. The war axe is technically Michele's axe in the actual story so for all intent and purpose the axe Tobias has and the axe Michele has look the same, just less fire. And i bet you guys wont be able to guess my favorite unit.**


	28. Chapter 28

**You guys really didn't think I would miss the one year anniversary of this story did you? Well if you did you're wrong even if i did pull it a tad close to the deadline. Sappy celebration words aside. I looked back over my year writing this and just reflected on it. Obviously there is so much I need to improve and can improve on but I do want to know that as the story has gone on has the writing improved? Im curious to know what you guys think seeing as you as readers would want the best for yourselves. but aside from that. Its been a whole dam year and just wow. I had to buckle down in school recently so I really had no time to write but I made a okay sized chapter for you to enjoy. So without further ado please enjoy.**

Chapter 6: Grim Omens

"Achoo!"

"Gesundheit"

"thanks…. ACHOO!"

"...Gesundheit…."

"Are you sure you aren't getting sick or something Tobias?"

"Not exactly...something about this forest just keeps making me sneeze...I need a curative." Tobias said before sniffling.

"Like allergies?" Nora asked.

"If that's what you want to call it." he responded.

"Well what would you call it?" Ren asked.

"We call it Hay Fever. Its when our bodies find a foreign substance that it doesn't like it does what it can to purge it. After a while it gets better...so i'll just have to deal with it."

"Yea, that's what allergies are Tobias." Jaune said.

"Oh…Achoo!" Tobias sniffled and let out an irritated sigh. "I hate this forest…"

"Don't worry! We're almost at the next town. They'll probably have a pharmacy with medication you can use!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Define almost…"

"With pleasure!" Ruby said as she pulled out the map. "The next town is...uh..it is…" After a long pause Ruby turned around to look at the rest of them "We're lost."

"We're not lost." Jaune quickly said with a chuckle. "The next village is Shion, my family use to visit it all the time!"

"Oh yea, don't you have like...four sisters?" Ruby asked.

"Uh, seven actually." Jaune corrected her.

"You know...that actually explains a lot. Nora said, causing Ruby to snicker and Ren to hide a smile.

"Wha-what does that mean?" Jaune demanded.

"SOOO. What did you guys do there?" Ruby interrupted.

Jaune was instantly at Ruby's side pointing excitedly at the map. "Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is our favorite camping spot! I got my own tent because I was special! Also, because my sisters wouldn't stop braiding my hair…"

"Didn't like to look?" Ruby asked.

"Yea they just kept doing pigtails, but personally i'm more a warrior's wolf tail kind of guy."

Ruby snickered. "That's just a pony tail.

"I stand by what I said."

* * *

As they were walking and team RNJR cheerfully talked Tobias couldn't help but feel like something was off. Despite not being able to smell anything thanks to his congested nose he could still hear, and right now that was the problem...he couldn't hear anything, no birds just the wind blowing through the leaves. Ren suddenly spoke up. "Guys, somethings wrong."

"What's wrong Ren?" Jaune asked.

Ren didn't reply instead he pointed into the sky, as the followed his finger they saw the pillars of smoke into the sky which was rapidly darkening.

"No…" Jaune said as the map slipped out of his and Ruby's hands. He broke into a run with the others hot on his heels. Tobias started after them when the map caught a gust of wind and flew past him. Lunging he barely scraped it with his fingertips as it flew past him. He gave a quick glance at the others and watched them single mindedly run towards the smoke before quickly dashing after the map. After a minute of chasing the windblown paper it got stuck on a bush and he quickly snatched it up and ran back.

When he reached the town, a dark scene greeted him. Tobias slid to a stop at the entrance as he looked around. Countless bodies littered the streets, houses crumbled and smoldered. Tobias looked around in horror before finally finding the others. They were standing around something he couldn't see and looking down. He began to run over as they turned to him. "If we can get him stabilized we can get him to the next town!" Ruby said.

"Yea, Ren and I can take turns carrying him." Jaune agreed.

Tobias looked past them and saw what they had been looking at. A wounded man lying on the ground bleeding profusely. Tobias could see the life slowly drain out of his eyes as his head finally went limp. Tobias's gaze met Ren's and he nodded in confirmation. "Guys…" Ren said slowly.

They turned back around and stared in silence. "Should we...Bury him?" Nora asked.

Ren brushed past Tobias as he walked through the group. "We should leave...It isn't safe here."

Nora ran after him as he continued to walk briskly towards the other end of town.

Jaune, Ruby and Tobias stood silently before Jaune finally said with clenched fist. "I'm so sick of losing everything…" As Ruby comforted Jaune Tobias looked around at the destruction around. He sneezed and wiped his nose before letting out a sigh. "I know we need to go but can we find something for my allergies?

"Oh! Yea umm the pharmacies should have them… they all have little red plus signs on them. Let's see.." Ruby said.

Before any of them could take a step the building next to the collapsed. The dying flames inside shot embers into the air. A few moments later a sign post came crashing down next to Tobias causing him to jump in surprise. He looked at the sign that had came close to crushing him and noticed that it had a red plus mark on it carved into the now burned wood. His eye visibly twitched before he turned to the smoldering building it fell from. "You don't suppo-" He started before the building gave a final groan and collapsed. Sending embers swirling into the smoke plagued sky. "...Nevermind." he said as he began to march through the town towards Ren and Nora.

The encroaching storm clouds caused Ren to frown as he watched them grow closer and darker. Because of the unfortunate setback in Shion village they had been unable to resupply properly and were now rushing to the next village. "If we hurry we should be able to make it to the village within the next hour or so. And hopefully the rain will hold off until then." Ren notified the others. They silently nodded in agreement as they picked up the pace of their walk.

* * *

A half an hour into their walk the first crash of thunder announced its presence with a boom to the world. They looked into the sky as it lit up with lightning, the tendrils of electricity arcing across the sky. The sight encouraged them to break into a quick jog down the final stretch as the town's lights were faintly in view. Right as they reached the entrance to the town the sky opened the floodgates, as heavy rains crashed down they scrambled to the inn as quickly as possible. As they rented the rooms a thought occurred to Tobias. "Hey, Ruby. How much do those curatives that help my hay fever cost?"

"The what?"

"He means his allergies." Ren cut in. "It should be 15 lien or so."

"...can we spare that?" Tobias asked sheepishly.

"Yea! Here!" Ruby said with a smile. "Go get your allergy medication." she said as she dug a blue and red card out of her pocket and gave it to Tobias.

"Thanks." He said before sneezing yet again. "I'll be back."

Tobias stood outside the entrance of the inn as he looked upon the town. It wasn't terribly late but the clouds make it dark enough so he couldn't discern the signs from one another. Taking a wild guess, he chose the closest building to the inn and ran quickly so he wouldn't get too soaked. As he opened the door he was instantly greeted with the constant murmur of conversation. Whether some of it was understandable was up for debate. Tobias looked around and saw a respectable number of people sitting around candle lit tables enjoying drinks and each other's companies. Tobias glanced around and made his way towards the counter. He wasn't sure if it was all bartenders but it seemed to him like most had a rather grizzled face, lots of facial hair and rather stocky in build but still friendly enough. As he got closer to the bar the man paused in his cleaning to give Tobias a once over, seemingly finding no ill intent he went spoke. "So, what'll ya be havin." he asked as Tobias approached.

"Directions, actually." Tobias replied. To which the bartender raised his eyebrow in a questioning fashion.

"Im looking for the pharmacy, could you guide me in the right direction?"

"Ah, well if ya hurry ya might make it I suppose. The lady likes to close up early, especially in storms like these. When you leave make a right and go straight down the main road. It's the fifth building down. If it's open you'll see the lights."

"Thank you." Tobias said gratefully as he turned to leave.

"She's a sweet old lady, don't go causin her trouble ya hear?" He said to his back.

"I'll be respectful." Tobias replied still moving towards the door. The only thing he heard in reply was an affirming grunt.

Just as Tobias opened the door he heard a startled gasp and breaking glass. He glanced up the stairs to where it sound came from and glanced towards the bartender who was eyeing the upper level intensely. Confident there was no major trouble the bartender couldn't handle Tobias took his leave.

"Doesn't it seem a little weird there has been no grimm attacking us? Despite us basically traversing the wilderness? I thought this is where they roamed free and everything." Tobias asked.

Ruby just shrugged. "We've been pretty lucky when dealing with the grimm so far so it's a relief...I just wish we had managed to get to that airship…. although Haven is a lot farther than I thought just walking…"

Ren walked next to Ruby with a quizzical look on his face. "Ruby...how long did you think this was going to take?"

"...I... I don't know! I grew up in a small area my entire life….

"Right, but how long?" Jaune asked.

"I dunno...like two...weeks?"

Jaune looked at her incredulously. "What!?"

Ruby threw her hands in the air. "I don't know! Fine! Three or something I really wasn't expecting to walk the entire way! Just forget it...we will make it… We have to."

Silence fell over the group for a while before Ruby spoke up again. "Is that a wall…?"

Jaune looked up from the map. "What? That can't be right? There shouldn't be another town for a couple of days."

"Doesn't it seem...damaged?" Nora asked. As she looked at it.

"We gotta check for survivors!" Jaune said. As he dropped the map and ran towards the gate. With the others on his heels.

"Stop dropping the dam map!" Tobias shouted as he lunged for the sheet, grabbing it and running after them.

Their mad dash slowed into a walk as they entered the gate and took in the area. The decrepit town giving off an eerie air as all was silent.

"It's not...destroyed… more like never finished…" Tobias said quietly

"There's no one here…" Ren said. "It's abandon. Let's keep moving…"

"Is it just me or has Ren been on edge ever since we went through the town that was destroyed…" Tobias whispered to Ruby and Jaune.

"It's...complicated i guess." Jaune whispered back. "I'd let him tell you if anything…"

Tobias nodded. "Well… let's keep going. This place gives me the creeps to be honest."

The silence was broken by a murder of crows suddenly taking flight. Tobias eyed the flock warily before following the others. The only disturbance in the town were the thuds of their boots as they walked through the skeletal remains of the town.

Suddenly Ren held out his hand forcing everyone to stop. He seemed to be focusing incredibly hard for a moment before he placed his hand on his guns. The actions were instantaneous, instantly everyone's weapons were drawn and searching for an unknown threat.

"Ruby my pistols." Tobias said. She quickly pulled them out and tossed them to him. They began to glow a deep emerald green that matched his tattoo briefly. "I think I jinxed us talking about the grimm…"

"It's not grimm." Ren said as he opened his eyes and turned around.

The rest followed his action to see someone somersaulting over a building.

There was no hesitation, no pause to look at the other. The man instantly charged them brandishing wrist blades as he sprinted. Ren was the first to intercept him as they crossed blades. The man was incredibly fast. His bladework leaving Ren wide open as he sent him flying across the courtyard with a powerful kick. Turning quickly, he continued his charge ignoring everyone going straight for Ruby. Tobias fired off a few shots, causing the man to bend and flip with the grace of a trapeze artist as he weaved through the bullets. As he came down he kicked out sending causing Ruby to drop her guard. He cut down Ruby's chest despite her best efforts to block was sent to the floor. before being interrupted by Jaune who charged in with his shield. The man used his momentum to spin in the air and cling to Jaune's shield. He hung there for a moment before leaping off and then jumping off of Nora's head who was running to assist. He sent himself into an empty clock tower, destroying the wall around him as he stayed perfectly in place using two beams to right himself in a perfect split.

"Who are you!" Jaune shouted up at the man.

"We aren't looking for a fight!" Ren followed up.

The man dropped from the building, flipping before landing in a crouch. As he stood he gave a small laugh as he pointed to Jaune, Ren, Tobias, and Nora. "Who I am does not matter to you, or you, or you…" he pointed back at Jaune. "Well...you DO interest me." he said before chuckling again. "But the only one I matter to here...is you." he said as he pointed at Ruby.

Tobias pointed his guns at the man again.

"...Me…?" Ruby said tilting her head confused.

The man giggled and snickered for a second before blowing into full blown hysterics.

"Yo-you really don't know anything do you?!" he said between chuckles. "This must be so exciting!"

"What do you want." Ruby asked seriously.

"Oh my! The flower has thorns!" He replied mockingly.

"My little flower, i'm here to whisk you away with me!"

Tobias couldn't help but shudder at how disgustingly he said that but kept his guns trained on the man's head.

Nora, Ren, and Jaune

"What if she doesn't WANT, to go." Nora said with the most menacing undertone Tobias had ever heard from the energized girl.

"Well then…. I'll take her." he said.

"We won't let you do that." Jaune said raising his weapons.

"Hehehehaha...Gooood." the man drawled out.

For the second time of the day there was no warning, no indication of movement or otherwise. The man moved suddenly and was gone, Tobias jumped back in surprise but gunfire from his left had him turning completely around. Ren had found the man first, managing to dissuade him putting a blade into Jaune's back by spraying them with bullets. Jaune had his shield up and was blocking the spray leaving the rest of the bullets to pelt the man as he scampered back. Not wanting him to get any room Tobias fired twice towards Jaune's shield and once towards the man. Quickly the man raised his wrist to block the shot fired at him. The bullets directed at Jaune's shield made a sharp pinging noise as they bounced off the shield, the force of the impact knocking Jaune down. The redirected bullets found their mark in the second wrist blade the man carried. He gave Tobias a funny look as he laughed before ducking under Ruby's scythe. He swept Ruby's feet out from under her and as she fell struck with his arm with a powerful overhead slash. Before he could strike again Jaune bashed them man off with his shield as he stood between them. Tobias fired once more but again the man dodged and deflected them without a care in the world. The man charged them again, Jaune rushed forward and swung at him only to get vaulted over as he charged straight for Nora. Ren and Tobias both fired at him from the sides trying to attract his attention. The report of Crescent Rose from behind the man got Tobias's hopes up as there was no way for him to turn around in time to do anything with that kind of firepower from such close range. Only the bullet never hit the man. Instead it rocketed past him and struck Nora directly.

Tobias stared in shock as Nora was ragdolled into a corner by the shot as the man turned around and stared in amazement at Ruby. He began to laugh uncontrollably, covering his face as he went into hysterics. Tobias looked at the others who were all smiling mischievously, before he had the chance to question them movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Nora had gotten back up and had electricity sparking around her body. Tobias's eyes went wide at the sudden realization and instantly rushed the man. He stopped laughing abruptly and leapt towards Tobias. As he was in the air Tobias took another shot at him, the man once again contorting himself midair to dodge the shot as he swung his blade sideways. Using the barrel of his pistol Tobias push the attack away from him causing the man to stumble forwards. Not missing the chance, he shouted "Nora now!" as he rolled in front of the man, both barrels aimed at the man's face. The man's eyes widened as Tobias fired, at the same time Nora lept to them and brought her hammer down in a thunderous blow. The impact of Nora's hammer sent up a huge dust cloud.

"Did they…. get him?" Ruby asked, letting her scythe drop.

The sound of maniacal laughing cut through the dust, causing them all to tense up again. As the dust cleared out they saw Nora struggling to press her hammer down on the man's back, only she was being held back by some long brown appendage that appeared behind him. Tobias was on his knee struggling to keep the man's wrist blades from reaching his neck. The brown appendage flicked and threw Nora off as he spun around knocking one of the guns from Tobias's hands. As Tobias was recovering from the sudden maneuver the appendage suddenly flicked forwards and impacted Tobias's chest. The sound of metal being punctured echoed through the courtyard as Tobias fell backwards.

As he lept a short distance away from the group the man laughed again, he curled what they could now see was a scorpion tail around him. "Surprise!" he said gleefully.

"A faunus!" Ren said, voicing their shock.

Nora used this change to regroup while Tobias got to his feet. Briefly inspecting the puncture wound in his chest, it wasn't deep but it was bleeding slightly. Looking for his other gun his eyes narrowed as he saw it lying by the man's feet.

Ruby's fist clenched as she took a step forward. "Whats this all about!" she yelled at him. "Is this about Torchwick!? The White Fang?"

The man merely laughed at her again. "You really do know nothing! Pawns all of them! All pieces in a game for our lovely goddess!"

Tobias grit his teeth as the man spoke at the same time Ruby lowly muttered. "Cinder…"

The man apparently had very good hearing because he burst into hysterics for what seemed like the hundredth time since they encountered each other. "Only in her wildest dreams!" before he jumped forwards again instantly in their faces. Caught off guard the man swept Ren's feet out from under him, as Ren fell Nora swung at him while Jaune blocked the man's follow up blow. Ruby jumped in from behind as they attacked in a pincer formation but the man moved far too fast for anyone. As he dodged the attacks like they were moving in slow motion. Tobias and Ren pointed their guns at the man and fired forcing him to retreat.

"He's insanely good…" Tobias muttered after the man had ran around a corner his last shot taking out a chunk of the building. "Give me a second guys!"

The others nodded as they rushed off towards the man who was running back towards them and Tobias closed his eyes and focused for a moment, five glyphs appeared around his feet in a bright flash.

Ruby reached the man first as she cleaved with her scythe the man hopped back and slid the dull end off his blade before rushing inside her guard and slashing her. The flash of light caused the man to look over to where Tobias was standing. His eyes widened as he suddenly ducked under Nora's attack that was aimed straight for his head. He ran towards Jaune before suddenly doing a front handspring using Jaune's shield as a jump pad and leapt over them all.

"Tobias watch out!" Ren got out before the man blindsided him

'I need units that will press the attack and can over power him…' Tobias thought as he focused his power.

"Gallant Spirit Tazer come! Ardent Da-" Was all he was able to get out before he felt a blade cut deep into his shoulder. The attack instantly breaking four of the glyphs.

Tobias looked up to see the man bringing his wrist blades down before he suddenly rolled off Tobias. The ground next to Tobias's head was crushed and water was splashed on his face. A giant blue serrated greatsword had cleaved the ground next to his head barely an inch from Tobias's head. The sword lifted with easy as Tobias jumped up. Standing next to him was a tall man with blond and silver hair adorned in blue knight's armor with a flowing cape behind him. His sclerae were grayed out aside from his iris which were a piercing blue just like the deep ocean. His sword had water swirling around it and if one looked close enough it seemed like it had taken the shape of some kind of animal around the blade

"So it was you Cinder's riff raff spoke of…" The man said eyeing them both critically displaying a previously unforeseen intelligence and insight.

"He's very fast Tazer...I can't keep you at full power if he gets around you and I have to defend myself, he interrupted me from calling the others but you should be more than enough." Tobias muttered lowly.

"You got it summoner." Tazer said as he stepped in front of Tobias. "Make sure you don't hit the others as well."

Tazer leapt forwards, and for someone in full armor moved incredibly fast but not fast enough. Tazer spun swiftly in the air as the man jumped up dodging the attack. The water around the blade morphed itself into the shape of a dragon's open maw as he impacted the ground. The area Tazer hit was soaking wet and along with a fresh cut the bricks around the area where displaced and shattered. He quickly pulled his sword out of the ground with little effort and repositioned himself between the man and Tobias. The whole time the man had just looked at Tobias and Tazer respectively, deep in thought.

As the man pulled his great sword out of the ground over Tobias's head Ruby couldn't help but sigh in relief. She took a step forward only to be stopped by Ren, who was watching the three intently. When Tobias's summon made the first attack Ruby could feel the power and saw the destruction the man made in one attack to his surrounding area. The palpable and visible aura of power around the man reminded her of the time Tobias released them from the airship. "I don't think we can get close right now, at least not without taking collateral damage." Jaune said slowly as they watched the summon and the man stare each other down. For a moment nothing happened before the man chuckled. "I suppose it would be best to just kill you now! I'm sure my goddess will allow me that much!" before he sprinted towards Tobias.

Tazer was instantly there to intercept him. Using the flat of the massive blade to catch the man's he pushed him backwards causing him to stumble before swinging it single handedly over his head. They watched as the massive blade careened for his skull, when the man's tail shot out again and knocked the blade off of its course. The man righted himself and struck, slashing Tazer in the face leaving a long cut across it. Jerking backwards the Tazer swiftly swung the blade in a complete circle in retaliation only for the man to lightly hop up on top of the blade and jumped off of it flying towards Tobias. Tobias jerked backwards in shock as the man landed next to him and instantly attacked. Wholly unprepared for the attack Tobias brought the pistol up again and slid the first blade off of it but was cut down his wrist by the second one causing him to cry out and drop the gun.

Not missing a beat, the man swiftly turned and faced Tazer, who was swinging at the man's torso. The man ducked and swung upwards meeting Tazer's blade in the middle. Instead of just pushing the blade up a little the blow completely threw the sword upwards, as if he had lost all of his previously shown strength.

As Tazer staggered back the man jammed his blades between the small gap in his breastplate, before pushing him onto his back forcing the blade deeper. He jerked the blade out and stalked towards Tobias who had picked up the pistol with his other arm. His left hanging at his side bleeding freely. "Not as tough as you seem. HAHAHA!" The man laughed as he prepared to strike. A sudden burst of petals appeared at the man's side as Ruby appeared. Slashing upwards She managed to catch the man's arm as he tried to jump backwards only to get bashed from behind from Jaune. Ren and Nora came from opposite sides but the man recovered in time to dodge out of the way. Rolling forwards, he kicked at Jaune's shield knocking him over before rushing Ruby, who jumped out of the way and slashed at him again. The man successfully dodging it this time but the crack of a gun made him dive out of the way as Tobias fired again. "Tazer go!" as Tobias fired at the man Tazer got up swiftly and chased the man down with Ruby hot on his heels as Tobias continued to keep the man moving endlessly firing. Tazer slowed down and made and underhanded cut through the ground, water spraying from blade. The blade cut through the ground like it was nothing and as he finished the swing a thin wave of water was sent hurtling towards the man. The man stopped abruptly as the wave went past him, carving a deep indent into the wall. Ruby used that to dart forward past Tazer swiping at the man's legs.

Ruby was so sure she had him this time when the man's feet left the ground she didn't know where to look. When a solid force impacted her chest, she could feel her breath leave her as she slid backwards along the floor. She could feel her aura give out. She could faintly hear the clashing of metal as she tried to regain her breath when suddenly she saw the man's boots in front of her with his tail hanging menacingly over his shoulder. She looked up to see the man's crazed grin and faintly heard the others shouting her name before the building next to her exploded as the man brought his stinger down.

* * *

"I don't know who you are pal, but i'm going to need you to leave my niece alone." a gravelly voice said from the smoke. The man jumped backwards as everyone stared at the man who had just showed up.

"Qrow Branwen…" the man said before giving a exaggerated bow. "Atlast a TRUE huntsman enters the fray. And, my name, is Tyrian my friend. And my goddess has requested I retrieve this young lady, so retrieve her I shall...one does not upset the goddess after all."

Qrow was visibly displeased at what the man just said but before he could say anything Tyrian spoke again. "That's enough talk however don't you agree?"

Qrow narrowed his eyes. "Took the words right out of my-"

Tyrian exploded into action again as they crossed blades. Their fight began as they dashed back and forth across the courtyard. Bullets flying back and forth as they two fought. Nora and Ren nodded at each other as they rushed Tyrian as he was being forced backwards by Qrow. like a sixth sense the man let himself fall backwards and spin on his back rapidly knocking the weapons from Ren and Nora's hands before kicking them backwards.

"Don't come closer!" Qrow shouted as he slammed down on Tyrians weapons. As they dashed to and fro on the court yard Tobias and his summon grouped up with Jaune, Ren and Nora. Tazer's armor had deep gouges in his chest plate and his greaves. Tobias was still bleeding in his arm but had picked up both his guns, one in his hand and the other in a holster as they watched the two huntsman fight. Tazer stepped forward to intervene when Qrow lost his weapon but the report of Crescent Rose made him stop as Tyrian mindlessly blocked the bullets allowing Qrow to viciously sock Tyrian in the face. The fight seemed to be going well for Qrow until suddenly he was dragged into one of the dilapidated houses and it collapsed on top of them both. Ruby had rushed over to the door of the house until the wall blew out again and through it came Qrow tumbling across the ground before he flung his sword out, driving it into the ground and catching himself on it. Tyrian came rushing out of the destroyed building. As the two leapt and each other Tyrian was suddenly knocked away by Ruby who had jumped into the middle.

"Ruby!" Jaune shouted as he took a step forward before being stopped by Ren.

"She's doing it again dammit." Tobias said.

After a brief moment Ruby dashed back and forth while rushing Tyrian with Qrow right behind her. As they met Tyrian tripped up Qrow and nearly skewered Ruby with his tail had Qrow not blocked it for her again. The house shook once more after Ruby was sent into it with another particularly vicious kick as she picked herself up one of the support beams fell right above her. Ruby looked up in surprise before the beam was cut in two by Qrow. Tyrian used this to his advantage and struck with his tail. Cutting into Qrow. Qrow doubled over briefly as the others began to rush over. Ruby acted quickly, placing her scythe over the tail and pulling the trigger cutting it clean in two. Tyrian screamed in pain as he retracted what tail he had left back to him, the tail on the floor twitching and spewing venom.

"Y-You BITCH!" Tyrian screamed out as he started to advance towards Ruby again. He stopped when the others finally reached them, weapons readied. The man growled and turned and began to flee.

"Chase him summoner?" Tazer asked.

Tobias watched him leap over a building and disappear from sight. "He's too fast… let's just hope he never comes back.

* * *

"Relax, he just grazed me. Look, kids enough with the questions let's get out of here, make a camp and I'll answer everything and anything you want." Qrow said as Ruby fretted over his wound and the others barraged him with questions. "I'm fine. I'd be more worried about your friend to be honest. That cut looks rather bad."

As Qrow pointed it out Ruby instantly darted over to Tobias and Tazer and flipped his arm around showing the wound.

Tazer let out a sigh. "The others are never going to let me hear the end of this."

"Others?" Nora asked quizzically.

"His other units...my...comrades." he said after taking a second to find the right words. "Although there are some I would kill in a heartbeat if I were allowed."

"Ruby it's okay, watch this." Tobias set as he lightly pulled his arm away from her grasp. He turned towards the dismembered tail and took a few steps closer to it. After a second a green sparkle lit on his arm as the cut grew smaller. But didn't close all the way.

"His soul dropped a few heart crystals. I can use these to heal myself to an extent. Although usually it's far more plentiful.

"His...soul?" Ruby asked.

"You'll find that everything in some way is powered by a soul, or spirit. The inner drive, your motivation for doing something? Your will to do it. That's your soul powering you, fueling you. It is a core part of you and it grants people the ability to grow, get stronger. There are different ways to harness it, manipulate it. There are many many theories that can't be disproven that suggest this is where magic comes from. Doing this is fairly easy in El Gaia and is common practice for soldiers and the like. You know that feeling when you get hit, the strength leaving you? That's your soul taking damage, losing the will to fight. Of course, there are physical reasons for you to feel weaker as well. But the soul is a part of that and doing damage to a person, and by extension their soul I can take the strength that left their body and heal myself with it"

"That's...kinda creepy Tobias." Ruby said hesitantly.

"It's less creepy if you deal with things from my world." Tobias replied.

"Let's get going." Qrow called out. "We need to make a fire before nightfall."

* * *

Tobias stared pensively at the ground as he listened to Qrow. As the others processed the information and gave their two cents and questions.

"And here I thought semblances were the closest you got to magic in this world." he said more to himself than anything.

"There's more magic here than you might think." Qrow said. "People just aren't as open about it as you are. Tends to cause panic when someone starts shooting fire from their eyes. And to prevent that power from being abused in the hands of someone with evil intent."

Tobias let out a chuckle" I suppose, it just feels so common to me I forget what I can do is not natural in any other world."

"To prevent panic...and by extension another massive war, we keep this magic very tightly lipped. It's...limited but powerful. And as you know, power makes people very, very greedy.

Everyone was silent for a while. As the campfire crackled. "So... what now." Ruby asked. "What should we do?"

"Honestly?" Qrow replied. I'm not really sure. But Ozpin put a lot of trust in the headmasters of the schools, and seeing as how Cinder was from Haven to begin with...that will be our best bet as well as our best lead. So, we will go to Haven, and meet with the headmaster. After that...we will figure it out as we get more information."

Another moment of silence as everyone processed the information before Qrow stood up. "Well, if we are done with questions then I think it's time to get some shut eye. I know you all took a good beating today and it's best if you rest up as soon as possible." Qrow said as he stood up. "I'm going to take a walk."

"Wait," Ruby said one more time standing up. Qrow stopped and turned around. You said you've been

Following us, making sure we were safe but...why not just be with us? Why all the secrecy the lies? Why wouldn't you just come with us to make sure we were safe?" Ruby asked. Her eyes wide with hurt.

"Because, me being with you would only make it more dangerous...it's a long story.

"Well I guess it's going to be a long night then." Jaune said, glaring at the man.

Qrow let out a sigh. "Did you know Crows are symbols of bad luck? It's an old superstition. Its also how I got my name, interestingly enough. My semblance...is not something I control or do...it just happens. I bring misfortune. Its useful when im fighting someone. But family? Friends? It makes it a little bit harder. That's why I stayed out of the way. Because my presence would do more harm than good to you all. I was going to help you earlier when you ran into those bandits...but your otherworldly friend here beat me to it." He looked around at them before turning to Ruby. "So that's why I didn't show up." Ruby looked down for a moment. "Is there anything else you want to tell us?" She said as Qrow stalked off into the darkness.

"Not tonight." he said not looking back.

Two sets of violent hacking woke Ruby up with a start, well it was more like one was violently hacking while the other was violently heaving either way neither sounded good. She looked over at Jaune and Ren who were looking over at Qrow and further into the forest the hunched over form of Tobias. Ruby jumped to her feet and ran over to Qrow who had just finished another coughing fit. Ruby couldn't contain her shock and horror as she saw Qrow, he was deathly pale with bags under his eyes. As he put down his hand she could see his blood mixed with some purple substance and the same purple substance leaking out of the wound Tyrian gave him. Qrow looked up at her, his eyes unfocused. "Un..fortunate." he got out before falling into another coughing fit. Another violent heave brought her eyes over to Tobias who seemed equally ill. Jaune ran over to Tobias and helped him up. As they staggered over Ruby got a good look at him. While nowhere as near as bad as Qrow looked he still was a rather unhealthy shade of green his shirt had a hole in it and it was soaked in sweat and the same substance that was coming out of Qrow,

"Poison...Give me a second...I can fix this." Tobias managed while taking deep breaths and closed his eyes for a moment. "Toriental Scar Holia…. come. The glyph flashed into life in a instantly and after a moment the unit appeared. Instantly she took Tobias from Jaune and stood him up hovering close if he fell, he stood tall, albeit shakily. "Ruby grab my pack…" He said before dry heaving again. In three seconds flat Ruby disappeared and reappeared with Tobias's pack in hand as she held it open he rummaged through it. He pulled out a red bottle and turned back around towards Holia who held out her hand expectantly. Right as he was about to hand her the bottle he coughed and sneezed at the same time. Sending the bottle flying out of his hands, flying right into Holia's forehead. She let out a yelp as she jerked back in surprise letting go of her halberd in the process as she tried to catch the bottle. The halberd fell forward suddenly hitting Tobias on his head with the bladed side. Tobias knocked the weapon away, now bleeding from the head with a panicked and confused cry before tripping backwards and hitting his head on a tree, effectively knocking him out. Holia abandoned the bottle in order to help Tobias only to trip on the shaft of her own weapon and landing on the blade face first. The would be gruesome scene cut short as she burst into multicolored lights and vanished. Leaving and shocked Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora staring at the aftermath trying to piece together what just happened.

A weak gravelly laugh sounded out a few moments later as they all brought their attention to Qrow. "Heh...Unlucky." He got out before he too passed out.


	29. Chapter 29

**Finally back with another chapter! I havnt been taking as many liberties as I should have with this story seeing as it is just a fanfic and Ive been rather anal about following plot and that has made for a very boring story. So im going to do what i should have been doing and spicing it up in a way thats not just adding another character into the story. But as always please enjoy!**

Chapter 7: Reaching out for Haven

Tobias woke up to intense discussion.

"There's nothing there! It's a destroyed town with nothing left in it." Ren's voice carried over softly but seriously.

"You can't know that for certain! Even if there's a chance there's a pharmacy we should take it! Besides we can't carry both of them up the mountains Ren! I'm surprised we haven't been attacked by Grimm yet anyway!" Ruby argued. "Taking them both up the mountain would be a huge drain on us and if we get attacked we might not be strong enough.

"It's even worse walking through a deserted town not knowing what's already there!"

"We can't take the risk with both of them out of commission!" Ren spoke, his voice steadily growing louder.

"Just one of them actually." Tobias said as he slowly got to his feet. Causing the rest of them to jump.

Still feeling a bit queasy Tobias blanched before speaking again. "So, what did I miss?"

"Tobias you need to rest! You've been poisoned." Ruby said as she walked over to him.

"Let me stop you right there." Tobias interrupted. "One, the amount of poison in me doesn't seem to be even half much bad as Qrow's. And two, i've been through SO much worse than a little poison. It'll be fine."

"B-but…" Ruby started.

"No buts! I'll live, and this way we can decide which way to take easier. I should be able to properly heal us both this time." Tobias said. "But Qrow will probably still be unconscious for a while after so it would be best if we did have a place to keep him stable.

Ren hesitated, looking like he wanted to argue more before saying. "Nora and I will go through the mountains and bring help back…

"What! Ren we shouldn't split up it's not safe!" Jaune exclaimed.

"It will be fastest! Nora and I will bring help back from Haven while you get Qrow the rest he needs." Ren said again.

Jaune clenched his fist for a moment before nodding. "Fine. But you stay safe out there." He said as he pulled Ren in for a hug.

"And you as well." Ren said.

Tobias made his way to where Qrow was laying on the makeshift stretcher. "Salacia Persei Elimo come!" A glyph appeared at his feet and shined brightly for a moment before a woman appeared in a brilliant flash. The woman had pale skin and long light brown hair, almost orange in color. She had kind cerulean eyes that were behind glasses and an equally kind smile on her face. She wore a long blue dress had had white gloves on. She had four wings and had a floating crystal book in front of her.

"Hello summoner." she said politely as she floated in front of them.

Tobias tossed a fujin potion at her which she caught and instantly drank the contents. Not wasting a moment she threw her arms into the air and a massive ball of swirling water appeared as it grew larger and larger. "Difique Force!" she said as the bubble popped and sprayed water droplets all over the place.

The effect was instantaneous, Tobias's complexion instantly cleared up and Qrow's breathing was no longer labored, instead they were deep and peaceful as the droplets hit Ruby she felt revitalized. At the same time a blue see through shield like wall appeared in front of everyone one before shimmering and disappearing.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

"A water barrier. It will disappear after a little bit." Tobias answered before turning to Elimo. "Thank you! You are dismissed."

The woman gave a smile and a quick wave before she vanished into multicolored lights.

Tobias let out a deep breath went to pick up one end, only to be stopped by Ruby's hand on his shoulder. "I know you said your fine...but please don't strain yourself. Jaune and I can carry him."

Tobias opened his mouth to argue but Jaune cut him off this time. "Just keep watch for us okay?"

Tobias let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.

"Let's go then." Ruby said as she gave a smile, although it was nowhere near her normal sparkling smiles.

After one more goodbye Ren and Nora went up the mountain path. Jaune watched them walk off before letting out a sigh. "I hope they'll be okay…"

"They'll be fine. Ren and Nora can handle anything together...and so can we." Ruby said as she picked up her end of the stretcher.

"I hope your right." Jaune said as he picked up the other end. "Let's get moving."

Tobias took a moment to pull out his communicator, within a few seconds he had a large scythe in his hands. Simple in design it had a purple streak on the top half of the blade and another blade at the end of if, on each end of the staff it held two shining blue gems.

He set off after them as they marched in relative silence, anxiety and worry filling the air around them.

* * *

The town was similar to the other town they passed through when they fought Tyrian. Desolate and abandoned, buildings beginning to crumble under the years of weather and time

"Well, atleast most of the buildings are intact…" Tobias said as they stopped under a dead tree that was more or less in the center of the town. Tobias leaned against the tree and looked at the other two. "So now what."

"Well...now we need some shelter." Ruby said slowly.

"Lets get searching for a good house…" Jaune said as he propped Qrow against a tree.

Right before they began to step away a monsterous howl cut through the eerie quiet causing all three of them to go on alert.

"It sounded far away…" Ruby said. "We're fine…."

"I hope Nora and Ren are too…" Jaune said as he gazed towards the mountains.

A sigh grabbed Tobias's and Jaune's attention as they looked back towards Ruby who was staring dejectedly into the ground. "This is all my fault… i'm sorry." she said as she let out a little sniffle. "For all of this, you guys never asked for any of this and I just selfishly brought you into my problems, and now i've put everyone around me in danger. She choked up before she could continue and Jaune put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We didn't get dragged into anything Ruby, we wanted to come with you. Sure it's scary at times and there's a lot going on that we don't know about but you give us the courage to keep going. You helped us to keep moving forward."

"I gave you the distress beacon for a reason Ruby. I want to help and my units would never forgive me if I got cold feet every time something got a little dangerous." Tobias said with a small smile. "So long as you need it i'll be here to help. No matter what.

Ruby sniffled again as she looked at all of them. "Thank you, so much." as she smiled again, this time a true Ruby smile

Tobias and Jaune just smiled back in response.

"Speaking of your...units. Why don't you have them with you now?" Ruby asked.

Tobias shrugged. "Practice. Getting used to not relying on them all the time. To be able to fight by myself like my friends can."

"Are they strong like your units?"

He chuckled. "Oh yea they are crazy strong. They fight on their own all the time then they use their summons if it gets rough. I...always had an affinity for summoning and after what happened with Alza…" he got a far off look in his eye before shaking his head But i'll get to their level in due time. I just gotta keep training."

That same shriek cut through the air again, only this time much louder.

"That thing is getting closer!" Jaune said standing up. Ruby and Tobias brandished their scythes warily. Ruby gave me a sidelong look. "You know how to use that thing?"

"I've got the basics down. Nothing fancy." Tobias responded as he was stared down the mainstreet of the town." He looked to the left and spoke. "Heads up we got two things headed our way fast. His tattoo glowing a bright golden yellow.

The pounding of feet on stone made everyone tense up as it grew louder and louder before finally Ren and Nora burst around the corner full sprint. "Ren?! Nora?! What are you doing here?" Jaune said in shock as Ruby and Tobias lowered their weapons. "You scared us!"

"No time!" Ren said as he gasped for air. "It's coming fast!"

"Wait wait. What is!" Ruby asked.

The distinct sound of hooves clopping echoed through the town as the monstrosity rounded the corner.

Ren let out a shaky breath as he took a few steps backwards. "That…"

Easily twelve feet tall the mutant horse human grimm hybrid walked slowly towards them. The human part if you could even call it that had two horns on its head and freakishly long arms with two prongs on the end that were being dragged along the ground behind it. As it moved forwards it twitched and convulsed making disgusting snapping sounds as it moved.

"That is probably the fifth most disgusting thing I have ever seen." Tobias muttered.

They slowly moved backwards as they watched its movements before it completely stopped and gazed at them. There was a morbid kind of intelligence in its gaze. Almost smug as if it knew the effect it had on people before slowly turning its head towards Qrow's resting body. Jaune suddenly bolted forwards towards Qrow and as soon as he moved so did the grimm. The creature galloped forwards straight at Jaune and Qrow. Tobias took off a second afterwards. Right before the grimm trampled them both it abruptly stopped. Apparently confused it looked straight at Jaune and Qrow before looking around.

"Go! Get him to safety!" Ren shouted as he concentrated.

The grimm let out a shriek as it turned towards the others right as Tobias cleaved at its leg. As the edge hooked behind its leg lightning sparked from the contact as the blade bit in. Tobias grunted as he pulled hard attempting to dismember the beast but to no avail. The grimm let out a shriek as it stood up on its hind legs and bucked trying to hit him. Tobias was dragged up slightly as his scythe was still slightly embedded into its leg. A shot went off that knocked it back down on four legs and Tobias jerked his scythe out and spun fiercely embedding the tip of the scythe into the horses chest. It winnied again but before it could retaliate Nora and Ren here upon it. Ren slashing down its side as Nora smashed into its hindquarters. The horse spun and jumped backwards to create space, flinging Ren off of its side.

They all regrouped eying the beast warily.

"Its strong." Tobias remaked. "The grimm where not that strong when I was here last. "What happened?"

"After the fall of Beacon...because of the world wide panic and fear all the negative emotions made the grimm stronger as a whole as well as more problematic." Ruby quickly explained. "This one is also apparently very old. Not many grim have skin that tough without existing for a few years."

Jaune reappeared from whatever house he had hid Qrow in. "We aren't getting away from this thing so we have to kill it. Not with Qrow still recovering. The creature started to twitch and convulse more than normal. "Whats going on?" Nora said.

Large bone like spikes suddenly shot out of its skin all over its back and it unhinged its jaw to let out an ear splitting roar that made everyone cover their ears. After its apparent battle cry it's had shot out with surprising speed and range. The boned protrusions slammed into Tobias with incredible force sending him flying backwards smashing into one of the houses.

"Spread out!" Shouted Jaune as he moved towards the beast the four of them circled it as its head twitched to and fro trying to track them all. Ren went in first and instantly a hand darted out at him. Ren deftly vaulted over it running his knives across the black flesh before flipping over it while pelting it with his gun. The beast swung its arm out again trying to catch him. But Tobias's scythe finally found purchase in the thick flesh gouging out a chunk of it as lightning arched down the wound.

"Hit and Run! Hit and Run!" Jaune shouted as Tobias ducked under the horse to get to a safe distance. The constant fire of Crescent Rose had the humanesque head crying out constantly as she unloaded her clip into it. Nora and Ren charged the beast again when suddenly the torso of the body spun in a complete 360 and unwound itself flinging out its arms. As it spun it swept everyone up. As it cried out again, louder than the last time. Instead of a deafening silence after the cry a howl echoed back followed by two more which were then followed by even more howls. A shiver traveled down Tobias's spine as he picked himself up. "It called for help?!" he shouted.

"Ren wait for us!" Jaune called out before turning to Tobias. If we get swarmed we are as good as dead! We can't defend…" he trailed off as his eyes widened in realization. "QROW! He can't defend himself!"

"I'll get to him!" Tobias said before Ruby could say anything. "Where did you leave him."

Jaune bounced one of the hands off of his shield with a grunt. "Main street, third house underneath!  
"Got it." Tobias said as he picked his scythe up and ran off. Before he could get far the creatures arm grazed his side, cutting deep. Tobias snarled and swung at the retracting hand but missed as it went back to its original position. There was more gunfire and Tobias used that to get away and look for Qrow.

* * *

As luck would have it Tobias found Qrow just in time. He went to pick up the unconscious man when he heard a massive crash to his left. Amid the settling dusk he could make out a large hole in the wall that was not there before. Movement in the dust caught his eye as something squirmed and flipped over before making its way out and its presence know with a squeal. The Boarbatusk was large but not oppressively so, not like the Ursa that lumbered its way through the hole after. The Ursa was nearly as big as the horse grimm back with Ruby and the others. "Oh man…" Tobias muttered as he watched a few more Beowolves come in through the hole after them. "Suddenly the Boarbatusk let out a far more guttural squeal than before and Tobias knew he had been detected. Because the rest of the grimm also looked his way.

"Misfortune Feeva come to me!" Tobias said as he began to drag Qrow backwards.

A flash of light gave way to a ashen blond woman wearing a red shirt with golden links on it with a black coat and tight black pants. She had dark thick bracelets on each wrist and a average sized purple colored sword. Not needing instructions she darted forward at the Boarbatusk as she slashed at it. It squealed as the blade made contact. She continued to move forward with the closest grimm's attention on her, leading it back to where the other grimm where charging. She vaulted over the charging Ursa and drove her blade into one of the Beowolves behind it before swiftly ripping it out and ducking under the powerful swing of the Ursa which sent the skewered Beowolf crashing into the wall. Feeva ducked and twirled gracefully as she fought in the middle of group of grimm as she dodged the Ursa one more time the boarbatusk came spinning rapidly from the side. Feeva quickly brought up the flat of her blade and pivoted as she slid the creature off its course. After a few feet the beast stopped and stood dazed for a moment and Feeva rushed the beast driving her sword deep into its hindquarter and ripping its tendons. As it layed flaying on the ground she raised her hand slightly and purple crystal shards burst out of the ground and impaled the beast, silencing it permanently. Feeva glanced at the other grimm who where still focused on her and ran to meet them halfway. In the blink of an eye she dashed through them all leaving them with a gaping wound across their side. Feeva stood behind the Ursa as they recovered from the attack and confusion and raised her hand again. Spires of dark crystal burst out of the earth in a line skewering the beowolves and piercing deep into the Ursa's belly. As the crystals broke all the bodies trapped in them fell to the ground limply aside from the Ursa, which was struggling to get to its feet. Feeva walked over to it as it cried feebly and raised her sword over its neck. Right before she could swing her blade a massive howl made her turn swiftly. Another Beowolf, this one far larger and covered in much more bone armor was flying towards her. Before she could do anything the beast had her pinned and was snapping at her throat trying to rip out her jugular as Feeva pushed its head back, barely keeping the fangs away.

Another form appeared over the Beowolf who was far too distracted trying to slaughter its pray to notice the curved metal blade swing under its throat. With a grunt Tobias swung hard and cleanly decapitated the Alpha in one clean swipe its body instantly going limp and collapsing on Feeva who quickly pushed it off and got to her feet. Tobias spun his scythe and planted the hilt down with a thud the wound on his slide closing up slightly. "We should seal this hole before anything else can get through."

"Im not a bricklayer summoner." was her only reply.

"Just help me collapse it…" Tobias said sighing and shaking his head as he walked forward.

Feeva gave a small smile as she followed, sheathing her sword. Tobias stood at the hole and cupped both his hands together like a step. Feeva placed one foot in and hopped three times before Tobias threw her upwards on top of the wall. As she clambered to the top she pulled out her sword and stabbed sections of wall above the hole. As she pulled out the blade she filled the small incisions with crystals that burst out of the wall, collapsing the section with a crash filling the hole with crumbled shards of crystal and stone. Feeva rolled as she hit the ground and popped up, brushing dust off herself nonchalantly.

"Now to help Ruby and the others." Tobias said before he heard a massive crash and the pained screams of the grimm.

"It seems like the fight is coming to and end." Feeva said as she started to walk back towards the main courtyard.

Tobias listened to the screams that where now practically non stop as they raised in volume until abruptly it stopped. He let out a sigh and smiled. "Sounds like it."

As they were walking back an angry hissing sound caught their attention. They glanced back down the street to see a massive black and white snake slithering swiftly at them.

Tobias saw Feeva glance at him from the corner of his eye. "We missed one." she stated.

"I noticed." Tobias said not looking back at her. "Go" he said and instantly a black blur passed by him charging straight for the snake.

"Ivy Goddess Nalmika go!"

A flash of white then a blur of green was all that was seen as the woman instantly spirited after Feeva catching up to her quickly. As they neared the beast it reared its head back and struck at them with blinding speed. Feeva quickly rolled out of the way of its mouth while Nalmika with all the grace of a ballerina twirled past the maw and slashed her rapier along its mouth. Before the beast could recoil Nalmika stabbed the beast with rapid trust before flipping backwards as the snake swung its head to the side in an attempt to hit her.

While Nalmika had the snake distracted Feeva hacked and slashed at it leaving bits of skin hanging off of its neck. Before she could attack again the snake swung its head away making her stumble as she missed her strike.

As the snakes head swung over her Nalmika a massive plant erupted from the ground in front of her. It lashed out quickly at the soft underbelly of the snake, Its fang like petals ripping a chunk out of it then spitting a glob of purple acid like substance into the wound. Its shrieking hiss filled the quiet air as the snake whipped its head around in the opposite direction. When a white snake head from the opposite end of the beast came flying forwards.

"Watch it!" Feeva shouted as she rolled out of the way once again.

Nalmika lept forwards into the plant that had sprouted in front of her and stood in a pocket in the plants membrane that opened up when she got near. As soon as she stepped inside the membrane closed up and the plant burrowed as quickly as it had appeared. The white snake head stopped its lightning quick charge and looked around, letting out an angry before suddenly Tobias's scythe appeared and cut the tendons in the jaw. Causing the bottom jaw to hang limply as the snake writhed in pain. He continued with his momentum and whirled around once more this time striking the soft underbelly.

"Adelphia Tale!" he shouted as the blade connected. Lightning surged and crackled as it burst from the blade arcing up and down the snakes body as it twitched and convulsed before falling limply on the ground. At the same time Nalmika and her plant burst from the ground at the other end of the snake where the black head was attempting to regenerate. As the plant latched itself onto the jaw of the grimm Nalmika leapt up on top of the snake and drove her rapier through its skull. The black head fell without a struggle, as the entire body started to dissipate Nalmika ripped her sword out and jumped off her plant burrowing back into the earth as she walked over to Feeva and Tobias.

Tobias sported a victorious grin on his face as Nalmika met up with them. His scythe still crackling with electricity. "Let's get back to the others.

* * *

Ruby yanked her scythe out of the beast's now limp arm as she watched Ren make his peace with the monster. When suddenly she remembered the howls of approaching grimm. She turned down the mainstreet where Tobias had ran down when from over the rooftops lightning burst into existence, arcing beautifully into the sky before abruptly fading and a pained inhumane screech cut across the desolate city before everything went silent. Ruby waited and listened for anymore sounds of combat or grimm activity but everything, finally seemed peaceful. The sound of voices carried down the mainstreet, Ruby looked up to see Tobias and two women who were carrying Qrow. as they got closer she could actually hear what they were talking about.

"-ting better all the time admit it."

"If summoner whats me to admit it I shall but I did most of the work, clearing out all those wolves." Feeva said.

"Act as aloof as you want Feeva I know you were happy when I got that alpha off of you." Tobias said with a grin.

Feeva simply hummed to herself, not giving any facial queues to what was going on inside her mind.

The woman on the other side of Qrow, who was pale with dark green and red hair and wore a skirt that looked exactly like a flower petal. Let out a huff. "Instead of happy she should feel mortified summoner had to save her when she should be doing the saving instead."

"Don't be so stubborn Nalmika, it just shows that i'm getting stronger and that's a good thing. To finally be able to properly fight with you all."

As Ruby watched their interactions and listened she couldn't help but sense that in a way...they were different. These two seemed to have the emotional capabilities of Ciara, Selena and the few others she had met, but even then they had been rather closed off to others, a stoic silence around them more often than not unless they were responding to orders. Now these two, which Ruby could tell where far weaker than some of the other units she had seem where more…human, as much as you could call them humans. lifelike and interactive.

Their conversation drew to a close as they reached Ruby. The two women walked past her and dropped Qrow at the base of the tree again.

"So, now what Ruby?" Tobias asked.

"Now...we can take a small break I suppose." she let out a small chuckle. "I think we earned it.

"That's what I like to hear." Tobias said as he set his scythe down and laying on the ground. "Dismissed." he said once he was sitting and both of women did a small curtsy before vanishing into rainbow lights.

"Hey Tobias?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm? Whats up?" Tobias said from the ground

Ruby was silent for a moment. Not really knowing how to voice the question. "Your units seem...different. More like, people. They used to not act like that even around you unless they were the super strong ones. So why did these ones seem so lively?"

Tobias was silent, staring into the sky with a far away look in his eyes. "It's a long story."

"That seems to be a trend for most of the stories we have heard." Ruby said. "If its a bad story...you don't have to tell it." she added with a small frown.

"Its not...BAD...but its not a good story either, a lot of pain and almost dying but I suppose that comes with the job you know?" Tobias sat up and said. "I'll give you the easy version of it all. In the closest world to mine, one might call it a sister world, Ishriga was a land of demons not unlike the lizard beast we fought all those months ago."

Ruby shuddered. That demon had been horrifying enough and supposedly there was a world full of them? Truly the stuff of nightmares."

"Somewhere hidden in that land was a god. Karna Masta." Tobias got a far off look in his eyes as his hand was subconsciously drawn to the middle of his chest.

Ruby noticed the tattoo on his arm slowly turn a purplish black color as Tobias continued to tell his tale.

"Karna Masta was the chief of all gods who had been sealed away by another god named Lucius because Karna Masta wanted to wipe out all of humanity. So as we traveled through the land trying to track him down to destroy him for good of course we were attacked by all manner of demons but that in itself wasn't horrible. When we DID find him however...honestly it's a terrifying thing to behold, a true god towering over me and my units. The sheer power in his very being was enough to shake even my units. My friends and I came very close to death. We would have if Tilith hadn't saved us at the end which nearly killed her in turn. In the end I ended up beating him. But, here's the thing about gods, if you don't destroy their soul along with their body. They just come back stronger. So we had to track down his soul as well which wasn't hard with my friend Ark leading the way. The soul of a god is without a doubt stronger than its physical form. It doesn't need to hold back its just raw power and destruction so you can imagine how tough that fight was. After we permanently destroy Karna Masta we had a time of relative peace in the summoner's hall where I work. Some odd side jobs here and there, and that's around the time I ended up in your world. So after i got called back and dealt with the chaos back there a scientist back in my world and a lot of the other summoners noticed something going awry with the summoning arts. That's when Elder Grah told me about Lugina's mission and how he supposedly was missing in action. So I went after him. Once I was in the world. Bectas, is its name immediately I couldn't summon anymore. At most I could summon a four star unit and not even at their full strength. Thankfully I had Tilith with me and I met another friend along the way who helped me train my own skill with weapons. Once we were there my new friend Reda informed me that specific beings known as Sealed Gods where running rampant as well as causing the disturbances in the summoning arts. So we set about fixing it. As we took down the sealed gods we ran into some...complications but after that we learned something very important. Karna Masta had a brother. And buy destroying Karna Masta's soul and the Sealed Gods we were actually weakening the seal on the brother. Alza Masta, The Chief God Alza Masta." Tobias let out a haunted chuckle. "We went to go put a stop to that naturally but we were just a little too slow...or maybe they were just too fast…"

But the seal broke and chaos ensued." Tobias looked Ruby dead in the eyes. "When Alza Masta appeared...his very presence immobilized us, Even the gods who were stationed there to make sure Alza Masta's seal never broke where completely helpless against him. I said it before and i'll say it again. True gods, are the most horrifying things in existence. I'll take the most twisted demons and crazed criminals over a true god if I have the choice. Only reason we survived...was because I was given true summoning power. The Sealed Gods where each part of Karna Masta power, which was the power of summoning and they sent their power into me. Giving me the strength to move, to fight, and save my friends. Because of this the two gods stationed there let me keep this power. So now perhaps, I don't really know for sure but my soul, in some way is tied with Karna and Alza Masta. And because of this true summoning power it made my units stronger, more THEM. because they draw straight from the source of summoning now, me. And after some loose ends were tied up back in El Gaia it was maybe a week before I found the distress beacon. And now i'm here." Tobias finished as he leaned back on his hands he glanced around in surprise to see the other three listening intently to his story.

"So...if summoning was Karna Masta's power in the first place how did you get it?" Jaune asked.

"Right before Karna Masta was sealed by Lucius. He placed a curse over Grand Gaia. But the curse wasn't for humans. It was for the gods. When the first summoner went through the gate. The curse affected him because he was strong enough and his body could handle it. And as more and more humans came through that were strong enough to use the curse that's how humans acquire summoning."

"What happens if you weren't strong enough." Nora asked.

Tobias shrugged as best he could. "Nothing. You were in Grand Gaia but you couldn't summon so you had to be able to fight on your own."

A strange sound cut through the air as they sat in their story time circle causing everyone to glance around.

"More grimm?" Tobias asked as he reached for his scythe.

Ruby let out a happy gasp. "No look! A ship!" she cried out and got up and started jumping up and down.

Prompting the others to get up and shout and wave in an attempt to flag down the ship.

It seems their waving us unnecessary because the ship was making a bee line for them.

As the ship passed over the mountain peak a vibrant green sprawling city practically built into the mountains instantly came into view. Ruby let out a gasp as she stepped closer to the edge of the ship as she took in the view. She turned around and practically flash stepped into Jaune pulling him in for a crushing hug. "We did it we did it!" she whirled around to see Tobias smiling brightly as he raised his scythe into the air and let out a cheer. The tattoo on his arm a brilliant golden yellow again.

"We made it to Haven…" she said suddenly overcome with emotion.

"Let's find an inn and get settled in." Ren said. With a sedated but no less happy smile on his face as Nora was practically bouncing at his side.

Ruby wiped the tear that was threatening to spill over from joy and nodded. "Yea!"


	30. Chapter 30

**Sorry about the delay, I got distracted playing games and school ect ect. Nothing else noteworthy worth saying so please enjoy the story!**

Chapter 8: Settling In

"Alright we're going to go see Lionheart, it will probably take a few hours so you...stay out of trouble. That means none of your magic, people are afraid after what happened and they don't need to see anything like that to set the populace over the edge. Jimmy was working overtime to come up with explanations for those two you unleashed on the city and there are STILL concerns about them." Qrow said as him and the other four stood by the door.

"Those two?" Tobias asked confused.

"The twin scythe wielder with the soldiers and the twin sword user and the supposed bird faunus that was sent to the town." Qrow said. "Everyone was in an uproar when the videos got leaked to the media and General Ironwood had to come up with something. So to appease the public they were special operatives sent in to help get people out faster the rest is quote unquote classified." Qrow let out a snort. "He seriously tried to cover his ass after all his robots turned. It worked out in the end at least." Qrow turned and started walking out the door as he walked away he said. "Oh yea, if you do decide to explore be careful where you go, Haven is a nice place and all but the shadier parts of town are still as dangerous as any."

"Ok." Tobias said as he waved goodbye to the others. As the door shut he looked around the room. "Hmm..What to do what to do." Tobias walked back to the main room of the house they rented. After they had taken care of Qrow and gotten settled they decided to find some place that had more space and was more accommodating to large groups of people. Thankfully this rental house had been highly recommended by many shopkeeps around the city.

"I feel like im forgetting something…" Tobias muttered as he walked around the house. He snapped his fingers as he remembered. "Tilith!" he exclaimed as he quickly walked back into the living room and picked up his communicator. The communicator didn't even ring for three seconds before the other end was broadcasted back. Tilith's face was contorted into a mixture of relief and annoyance. "Tobias! I told you if you don't stay in constant contact i'll go there myself and find you! You had me worried sick!"

"Sorry Tilith, this last week got a tad hectic I didn't have the chance to." Tobias apologized. "I promise I won't miss a call next time.

Tilith let out a noise of annoyance. "You better not! But it would be even easier to just let me stay by your side! That way I wouldn't have to worry!"

"As nice as that would be it can't happen this time around Tilith." Tobias said.

"And why not?!" she asked a look of hurt flashed across her face.

Tobias raised his hands. "It's the humans in this world. Magic has practically died out and no one has had any contact with any sort of god or otherwise in probably like thousands of years maybe even more! If you came it would cause all kinds of problems for people and i'm sure you don't want that."

"N-no I would never want to inconvenience people like that I suppose…" she said.

"I promise I'll find a chance to come visit." Tobias said with a smile.

Tilith pouted in response. "You better! And we are going on this trip no matter what!"

Tobias chuckled. "You got it. I'll call you again later okay? I'm going to go do some training.

Tilith sighed. "Okay, see you later Tobias."

Tobias waved one last time before ending the communication. He got up and strode outside with purpose.

The backyard was decently hidden from the other houses that next to it. A moderately sized area with a six foot fence on either side giving a form of privacy from the other houses, at the very back was a smaller fence hugging the edge of a sheer cliff that went down into a forest some seventy feet below.

Still standing near the entrance of the house he pulled out his communicator once again and sent out another call. One ring, two ring, three ring. On the fourth ring a young voice came through. "Oh, Tobias? I was wondering when you would get bored enough in other worlds to call me. Need something?"

"Yea actually I do Noel think you can help?"

"Let me guess? Training?" He said, Tobias couldn't see him but he just knew he had that smirk on his face.

"Yea but-"

I already had it set up so when you and Tilith go adventuring everywhere you can train anytime from your communicator, it has a bunch of different training trials and ill constantly update them for you so they are never the same. Activate the programs features, all the trials are listed there so take your pick! I've gotta run though but thanks for calling. I'll tell everyone you said hello." The call ended abruptly with a click as Tobias blinked at the device.

He did as he was told and opened up the programs feature and sure enough a list of trials listed one through ten were there. Shrugging to himself he picked one and instantly his communicator shined brightly. "Here we go…" Tobias muttered to himself as he pulled out his gladius, training to become more comfortable with the legendary weapon.

* * *

"I've never heard a guy scream like that before. Professor Lionheart is a weird guy." Nora said as they made their way back towards the house, enjoying the scenery around them.

"You think he wouldn't be cut out for this kind of profession but apparently he is a very capable dust mage from what I've heard." Ren said

"Still I wonder why there were no teachers there...Qrow seemed kinda worried about it." Ruby murmured.

"Im sure its just because school is out of session." Jaune said. There are still plenty of huntsmen in the city, i'm sure they don't have to be at the school all the time."

"Yea I guess you're right. Ruby suddenly perked up. Well since Qrow is going to be out for a while and we have no food why don't we pick up something before we head back!

"Oh thank goodness because I am starving!" Nora exclaimed.

"Hmm….i'll get the...Cinnamon Noodle kugel!" Nora exclaimed as she gazed over the menu.

"Nora you can get that but order some actual food as well."

Nora groaned and continued to look over the menu.

"I'll get the deluxe ramen bowl!" Ruby said.

I'll have the same." Jaune said putting his menu down.

"I'll take the Yakisoba." Ren said before taking Nora's menu "and so will she.

"Oh we should get something for Tobias as well! He's probably gonna be hungry too." Jaune said.

"What do you think he likes?" Ruby asked.

"He looks pretty mild but he probably likes super spicy stuff!" Nora said.

"Are you sure?" Ruby said apprehensively.

"Oh yea trust me! He looks like the kind of guy that likes a kick in his meals." Nora said nodding to herself.

"Ren…?" Jaune asked.

"Nora has an uncanny ability with good guesses sometimes...I honestly couldn't tell you."

"Get us one bowl of the fire dust inferno noodles!" Nora exclaimed.

"Could we get it in a take out box as well?" Ren added.

The burly man with a clean shaven head and a rather majestic beard nodded and walked back into the kitchen area as he prepared the dish.

The man placed the simple white box of noodles in front of Ruby, and instantly her nose was assaulted by a mixture of extremely potent spices she let out a cough as she pushed it away. "Is that edible?!" she said as she sniffled, the dish making her nose run just from the smell.

Jaune opened the box slightly to look at the dish and everyone was instantly assaulted with an even stronger smell. Closing the box swiftly Jaune looked over at Nora. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Is there somethin wrong with my noodles?" a menacing voice said through their chatter.

The cook was standing directly in front of them with a large kitchen knife in hand and a rather displeased frown on his face.

"N-no sir!" Ruby stuttered "we uhhh we were just talking about how good it smells! Yea!"

The chef merly narrowed his eyes. "Pay up and get out. It's close to closing and you're holdin me up."

Ruby and Jaune scrabbled in their pockets for the appropriate change while Ren grabbed Nora and the rest of the food and stood a safe distance away as they waited for Ruby and Jaune.

After a few more moments they came scrambling up. "Lets go! Im sure Tobias is starving." Ruby said as she glanced warily at the noodle stand.

As they approached the home they were staying in the first thing they noticed was that none of the lights were on, upstairs or downstairs.

"Maybe he's asleep?" Jaune said. As he walked up to the door.

"It's not THAT late." Nora said with a frown. "There's still things we can do!"

As they entered the house everything was dark. "Tobias!" Ruby called out as they turned on the living room light. "Hello?"

"Wait did you hear that?" Ren said, cutting Ruby off before she could speak again.

Everyone listened intently for a moment as the ringing of steel cut through the silence.

"It's coming from the back. He might be in trouble."Jaune said as he rushed for the backyard. Jaune flung open the door to the back as the others rushed through behind him.

The backyard was dominated by two people clashing in the middle of it. Tobias and a young man with red orange hair. Tobias was wielding a medium length sword. The blade itself was wider at the top with a thinner midsection before widening out at the base again just before the hilt there was a glowing gem in the middle of it that was currently a emerald green. The hilt had six spikes protruding out of it resembling a sun almost.

The young man he was fighting had black and red armor and a greatsword the blade was almost as tall as the man himself and the center looked as if someone had poured lava on it and let it cool slightly. Fiery red veins running down the obsidian black middle.

As their blades crossed embers spewed from the contact, They went at each other fiercely not taking a break for a second as they swung at each other. Although it seemed that Tobias was slowly losing ground to the man, the embers were slowly getting more intense

Just as everyone was drawing their weapons a voice to their left hissed out "Be quiet! You'll distract him."

Jaune jumped and turned turned towards the voice. Leaning on the wall were two people who were watching the fight intently. The one who had spoken was one of the woman Tobias had help him when they were fighting the Nuckelavee grimm. The plant like woman narrowed her eyes at them pointed her rapier and hissed out. "Be quiet, go inside or watch the fight but do not disturb."

"What's he doing?" Ruby asked.

"Training." The woman said. Suddenly a massive crash drew their attention back to the fight. Tobias was stumbling away from a cloud of smoke, his right arm was burned slightly and had a shallow cut in it.

"Square your feet!" another voice shouted. "Your opponent has the larger weapon, if you lose your poise against fighters like that you will die." The second voice that spoke was the second woman Tobias had with him after.

"You're fighting with a disadvantage, you cannot force anything. Draw a mistake out of him." The rapier wielder shouted.

The dust cloud settled and the young man lept at Tobias, swinging the massive sword as he spun once through the air. Tobias ducked as the blade passed over him, the swing was so strong it blew warm air into the spectators.

Using the opening Tobias swung upwards giving the man a long cut all the way up his waist. As the man recoiled from the attack Tobias pressed his advantage, laying blow after blow into the man. The man tried to raise his sword to defend only for Tobias to slash his wrist, making him drop the massive sword before it completely hit the ground it vanished into multicolored lights and Tobias kicked him, knocking him towards the fence.

Not waiting Tobias rushed the man again. Ruby heard someone click their tongue and looked over to see the dark clothed woman shake her head. "Too eager to finish. Leaving himself vulnerable. That might work if he was fighting a living person..."

Ruby looked back at the fight to see what she was talking about. As the man hit the fence he instantly righted himself and swung upwards with empty hands. Only in the next instant a light flashed and his sword reappeared in his hands as it was being swung. The blade hitting Tobias squarely and sending him flying into the air

Tobias hit the ground hard, as he landed he coughed before rolling quickly to his feet and facing the man again.

The red haired man didn't move for a moment, instead they watched each other, breathing heavily. As they stared at each other Ruby noticed that some of the cuts and bruises on both of them faded rapidly and disappeared, leaving no trace of a scar. The large gash on the man's side hasn't healed but the smaller cuts had and a few of Tobias's burns had healed as well. Ruby blinked and then blinked again to make sure she hadn't hallucinated. She turned to the others "You saw that right?"

"...Yes." Ren said slowly as he watched the two "Although i'm having a hard time believing what I just saw." Sudden movement drew their attention back to the fight. The red haired man lept into the air, easily jumping over six feet and was coming crashing down straight at Tobias. Who had put his blade across himself holding the flat of the blade with one hand and the handle with the other, as he did a blue light pulsed from his body briefly.

"So it comes down to this…" The ashen haired woman said with an air of finality. Before Ruby could asked what she meant the man crashed down on Tobias's blade with a tremendous clang and a large plume of embers. Tobias instantly started sliding backwards, his feet gouging the ground underneath as he somehow managed to hold the man in the air. Tobias slid about halfway towards the group of spectators before finally stopping the movement however there was still an apparent struggle going on as the man had now landed but was pushing with all of his might against Tobias's blade.

"Hold your guard summoner…" the plant woman muttered to herself as Tobias was practically balancing on his heels at this point. Grunts of exertion where audible from both combatants. The blades shrieked as the metal grinded against metal before Tobias let out a shout and somehow regained his footing and pushed the man to the side. As he lost his balance Tobias quickly grabbed the man's neck and pulled him forwards, simultaneously spinning around him. As he stumbled forwards Tobias brought his blade up and mercilessly brought it down on his back of his neck, the blade cutting deep. As the man fell forward he dissipated into rainbow colored lights.

Before anyone could say anything Tobias collapsed to his knees the sword laying on its side next to him as he panted.

"I swear, Noll is trying to kill me with these things." he said panting to no one in particular.

While Ruby was no stranger to gore or fights she still felt slightly ill from watching the unflinching execution of another human, spirit or not. And from the way the others looked slightly off put she was not alone in that sentiment.

The two women pushed themselves off of the wall and walked over to him, as they reached him they knelt down on each side and instantly began muttering things into his ears motioning with their arms and pointing at various places. All the while Tobias nodded and muttered things back to them. Once he finally caught his breath he stood up slowly nodded at the two who instantly vanished into rainbow lights, then he notice the others standing by the door.

"Oh, have you been here long?" he asked.

No one said anything at first, they just stared at him, cuts and burns on various parts of his body and his shirt was all torn. Just before the silence became awkward Jaune finally spoke. "We got here near the end and we brought you some dinner."

Tobias perked up. "Oh that sounds great, I got so into training I didn't notice how late it had gotten." He slowly walked over to them, obviously still banged up and tender. "Whats for dinner?"

* * *

Team RNJR watched apprehensively as Tobias brought the fork full of flaming red noodles up to his open mouth. Either he was too exhausted to care or the smell and sight of the noodles didn't phase him in the slightest. Just before he put the noodles into his mouth a loud knock on the door caught their attention.

They looked at each other questioningly before Jaune stood up to get the door.

"Qrow would just come in wouldn't he?" Ren asked Ruby.

"Yea, that's weird...we weren't expecting anyone else where we?"

A young voice cut through the silence as Jaune held open the door "Yes im looking for a ummm Ruby Rose..?"

The room instantly tensed up as all eyes went towards the door. Standing in front of the door was a young boy who couldn't have been older than 14. He looked like...a farmer, rather unimposing and honestly quite intimidated because Jaune Nora and Ren were now leering at him intensely.

Before another word could be spoken Qrow suddenly crashed into the door frame. Causing Jaune to start and jump backwards. Qrow grabbed the boy's shoulders and steadied himself all the while chuckling and laughing. "Is he...Drunk?" Ren asked.

"Yup…" Ruby said with an unsurprised look on her face. She walked over to the unsteady man, supported him over her him to the coach and laid him down all the while he kept slurring "I found himm I found him!"

"And just who exactly is him." Jaune said staring at the boy.

"M-my name is Oscar, Oscar Pine. But umm...you might all know me better as..Ozpin…" he trailed off as everyone stared at him. "Do the thing do the thing!" he muttered to himself.

The others looked at each other inquisitively. "Did Qrow get him drunk too?" Jaune said. Before Oscar spoke again, but this time his speech was far more...Cultured almost.

"No, although he did try." It definitely was not the same person speaking. "It's good to see you all again."

"Everyone stared at the boy in shock. Physically he didn't really change but his posture was straighter, and his eyes held a previously unseen elder quality in them. As well as wisdom far beyond his years.

Everyone was in shock for a moment before suddenly a growl made them come to their senses. Tobias was now standing in front of the counter and pointing his sword straight at the boy. "You possessed him?! I thought you were supposed to be good!" he said accusingly. He started towards him menacingly. "You better have a dam good reason for using dark arts like that on a kid no less."

The others didn't know what to do as they stared at Tobias as he marched towards the boy.

Oscar raised his hands. "Please, its nothing like that I assure you just give me a chance to explain.

"Just hear him out Tobias!" Ruby said. "Ozpin wouldn't do something like this without a reason…" she trailed off.

"Please, lets just sit down and talk about all this its not as malicious as it seems I can assure you of this."

As Oscar and Ozpin finished their story everyone was silent. "We of course will talk more in the morning, when Qrow is more capable of helping me explain, but do you see I mean no harm? I simple wish to protect this world to the best of my abilities." Ozpin finished.

Tobias stood silently and walked past Oscar. He stopped right beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you ever feel like he is forcing you to do something or he is controlling you more than you are controlling yourself, come to me. He wouldn't be the first soul i've destroyed." He continued forward and sat down at the counter again, pulling up a bundle of noodles with his fork. With no hesitation he took a large bite of the dish and sat their chewing for a moment.

It happened very fast, Tobias's face when from slight anger to surprise and confusion then finally to panic as he began to cough. His face turned noticeably red and he started panting and coughing. "Go-good Gods! Wh-at is that!" he said in between coughs. As he pushed the dish away. "Water get me some water!" he said standing up rapidly and rushed towards the sink.

"Wait Tobias drinking water with something spicy doesn't work! It makes it worse!" Ruby said.

Her warning fell on deaf ears as he turned on the sink and took large gulps. A few moments later Tobias spluttered and spit the water out.

He fell to his knees as he panted and coughing heavily, Before he abruptly stopped moving.

"T-Tobias?" Ruby said hesitantly as she walked over to his unmoving form.

Nora got up and stood beside her as Ruby lifted his head, he stared back -kinda his eyes were glossed over. "Oh god we killed him!" Nora cried out. "We gotta perform CPR quick!" she said as she pushed Ruby out of the way and practically threw him to the floor.

"Nora stop he's still breathing." Ren said from where he was standing. "I think he just passed out."

The silence lasted for a few moments before Nora spoke again. "Well. I think we should try this again in the morning."

"I think you're right this time around Nora" Jaune said weakly as he went to help Ruby lift Tobias and carry him into a bed then went back and did the same for Qrow.

Oscar walked up the stairs after them as Ren and Nora cleaned the rest of the things downstairs.

"We will explain everything in the morning. Pleasant dreams , " Ozpin said before finding an unoccupied from and shutting the door.


	31. Chapter 31

**First things first! im not dead, ive just been very distracted with literally everything. So im really sorry this took so long to come out. The only thing im consistent in seems to be my inconsistency. But im very much still doing this so dont worry about it. I always wanted to let you know that global exclusives will probably very rarely show up in this story, probably some of the older ones but for sure not newer ones, im thinking of a cut off point for the exclusive units but ill figure that out later. Sorry for the late chapter, its just a tad bit longer but nothing too special. Im already working on the next one so dont worry about a dreadfully long wait time inbetween. As always enjoy!**

Chapter 9: Hitting the Town

Qrow and Ozpin controlled Oscar stood in the middle of the room in silence as team RNJR and Tobias, who had calmed down after last nights outburst, processed the information given to them, they waited patiently as they watched various emotions pass across all their faces. Finally Ruby broke the silence. "I want to say all of this...sounds crazy, Cinder, Salem? Maidens and magic? Your telling us almost all the fairytales and myths are true? I mean...it's just.."

"Most fairytales come from events that were greatly exaggerated." Ozpin said looking at them with a knowing expression.

"Do you...believe this stuff Tobias?" Jaune asked.

Tobias turned to Jaune and looked at him with his eyebrow raised. "I literally call upon mythical heros and legends when I fight. What do you think?"

"Right...Dumb question." Jaune muttered sheepishly.

Tobias spoke up again. "So, why don't we just go to your sister and get the maiden. Wouldn't she be willing to help us? And even if she wasn't you have me here. My units and I can take on a bandit camp even if one of them is a maiden, no matter how strong she might be I doubt she could take on five equally powerful fighters at the same time."

"Sister or not Raven isn't fond of sharing things that belong to her. Especially if they are extremely powerful." Qrow said with a frown. "We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things and we most definitely do not get along. So even if we try to talk the answer will probably be a resounding no. Same problem occurs if we try to barge in there. If she manages to escape with the maiden and they we will have to track her down all over again. Something Salem will be infinitely faster than us at.

"Another problem is Lionheart." Ozpin chimed in. "From what Qrow has told me, his actions have been very suspicious. I do not want to risk leaving and something happen to the artifact."

Tobias frowned. So we have nothing to go on and no safe actions to take? What are we supposed to do wait for our enemies to make a move?"

"Not quite." Ozpin said. "We aren't in check yet, we have plenty of pieces on the board here in Haven. And of course we will not sit here idly! Ozpin said twirling his cane, he pointed at team RNJR and exclaimed. "You four still need training! While there is no doubt you are skilled and capable seeing as you made this journey practically on your own there is still much for each of you to learn. Of course Oscar needs to train as well so he can use his aura more freely and become more comfortable in a combat scenario."

Ruby and the others looked at each other in surprise before looking back at Ozpin who was now smiling and twirling his cane faster. "Tobias i'm not sure what you do for training but I suggest you keep up with it as well, we will need everyone at their best if we hope to succeed."

Tobias simply nodded. "Is there anything else you needed to talk about? Or was that the gist of it."

Tobias nodded and stood up. "Alright then, i'll run some trials for now later on you guys can have the backyard to yourself."

Team RNJR and Oscar sat in the living room in silence listening to the sounds Tobias's trials in the back. Qrow had left long ago saying he was going to find another bar and had left long ago.

"He's...really going at it isn't he…" Jaune said "How long has it been?"

"About...two hours…" Ren muttered.

"Does he always train so...violently?" Oscar asked

"It certainly seems that way." Ren said as a loud crash echoed through the house.

Ruby stood up and walked towards the back door, something had been bugging her ever since they had seen the last bit of his fight from last night. They really haven't seen Tobias fight, aside from a few quick instances but never enough to get a feel for how he really fought in battle.

"Whatcha doin Ruby?" Jaune asked as he watched her walk towards the back

"I've been wanting to see him actually fight, we never really see him in action you know?"

The others looked at each other before shrugging. "Its true, plus getting to know his fighting style will help with synergy when fighting together, we did get in each others way when we were fighting Tyrian…" Ren said.

"That and he has been out there for a while...im kind of worried." Ruby added as she opened the door.

This time around Tobias was definitely worse for wear, he had bloody cuts and bruises everywhere and the thin t-shirt he was wearing was completely torn up. This time around Tobias was wielding rather plain looking twin long swords. His what seemed to be combat partner was looking equally beat up, a solidly built man about the same height of Tobias stood at the ready. He had gray hair with a strand of red on the side. He had veins coming down from his eye which were an intense manic looking red. His armor which normally would have been very intimidating and majestic was cracked scratched and chipped but from what could be seen it has heavily plated polished iron armor with gold eyes in multiple places and lined with some kind of black fur on the inside, on the ground next to him was a purple cape that was torn to shreds . His weapon was a single long sword with an intricate guard that had angel wings and demon horns surrounding a glowing eye. From the other side of the backyard a single form stalked towards them. It was a young looking boy who couldn't have been older than Jaune, he had ashen blond hair and light purple eyes, he was wearing a black formal looking shirt with a purple jacket and matching purple pants. Adorned with small golden shoulder plates he had no other armor on but he was holding a large golden dagger with a glowing purple eye in his hands.

As the boy got closer both Tobias and the man tensed up before they simultaneously rushed the boy, who immediately sprung into action. The armored man struck first with a broad horizontal slash making the boy skip back a step before the man stepped forwards again and continued the press his assault, the blade swinging faster and faster until it was a near blur. Each time the boy tried to counter attack after dodging a slash Tobias was in his face swinging fiercely with his swords causing the boy to move further and further backwards.

As Ruby watched them fight she knew Tobias was good, certainly no master but skilled nonetheless. And because of this observation she could not understand how they both looked so beat up when the boy they were fighting was practically pristine. They synergy together was on another level entirely. Which was not surprising seeing as the man was probably one of his summons, it seemed like they knew what the other was going to do before they even moved, more than a few times their blades swing within meer centimeters from each other but they never flinch as they pressed their attack.

It wasn't until Tobias took a step just too far, and took just a second too long to recover from it did she see why they were in such poor conditions. Seeing as he was too far in front the armored man couldn't do much to defend him and the boy retaliated in an instant. Slashing Tobias's shoulder and cutting down his arm. Tobias jerked back only to have the knife fly after him. The boy guided the knife with his hand much like Ciara had guided her scythe as it followed after him the blade shimmered and left an after image of where it had been. The knighted man swung at the knife but it flipped around his blade and flew at them faster slashing and leaving new cuts despite them knocking the blade away at the last second. The armored man was doing his best to keep the blade away from Tobias but the knife was moving too unpredictably, and even if he did the after images continued to shred them.

After the edge had been lost it looked unlikely they would get the upper hand again, the boy keeping them at a distance while whittling them down.

The fight continued for another minute before the boy knocked Tobias down and knocked the armored man back, as the man flew back he knocked down the fence overlooking the cliff with a crack. Instantly the knife flew at the man again and buried itself into his shoulder plate, causing him to stagger off the cliff with a surprised grunt.

"Narza!" Tobias shouted

His face notably soured as the knife reappeared from over the cliff face and looked over to the boy who was slowly advancing on him.

Tobias grimaced at the boy before he said. "End Trial."

The boy and the knife instantly vanished in a flash of light, and a robotic voice came from the other side of the backyard. "Challenger has given up, terminating trial sequence." it intoned before the cube shut off completely.

Tobias let out a sigh, staring over the cliff side and resting one of his blades on his shoulder "I can't go all out with all this stuff around...I gotta find a bigger arena…" He muttered to himself, then he turned towards the door where Ruby was standing.

As Tobias turned towards her Ruby got a good look at his torn shirt that allowed Ruby to his deceptively built body and an absolutely massive scar covering a good chunk of the left side of his chest. It looked torn and slightly warped and Ruby could do nothing but gasp in shock as she stared at it.

Tobias blinked in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"What happened?" She said pointing at the old wound.

He glanced down at himself. "Oh...Thats from Karna Masta. He really got me good with that one, practically killed me." He said finishing with a dark chuckle.

Ruby had nothing to say, sensing this Tobias walked over to the door. "Lets get inside, its your guy's turn to practice and I need to get cleaned up and into a new shirt."

"Y-yea.." She said following after him.

Qrow let out a satisfied sigh as he put his flask back into his pocket, watching Ruby and the others train from the doorway.

"You wanted to talk?" Tobias said, as he walked across the living room, cleaned up and new clothes he came to lean by the doorway next to Qrow.

Qrow let out a groan as he stretched out for a moment. "I wanted to ask for your help actually. Its about the pieces Ozpin was talking about, they are actually old contacts of mine and I need to find them all around the city. I figured I could use a hand." he said not looking at Tobias. "I figured it would let you get out of the house and explore a little."

Tobias mulled it over. "These contacts of yours...friends?"

"Worst case scenario they are loosely based acquaintances who own me some favors." he replied still watching the others.

"I see…well you have names and ways to find them ready for me I hope?"

Qrow nodded to no one in particular. "I'll have everything you need by tomorrow morning."

Tobias nodded and said nothing more, instead focused all his attention on the others as they went back and forth through seemingly very basic maneuvers.

"The training seems...rather underwhelming." Tobias said frowning.

Qrow gave him a sideways glance. "You know not everyone can produce fire with their minds right?"

"That's not it." Tobias said giving Qrow an unamused glare. "Elder Owen always told me to train like I was in live combat so I could always be prepared for anything thrown at me. It just seems simply running basic practice like this holds no value."

"Their ability to fight is already spoken for, its just for the things they don't know very well yet, they have to start from square one."

"...Do you really have time to be starting from square one in a situation like this?"

Qrow didnt respond.

"One of my units could probably train them." Tobias added after a long moment of silence.

"I don't think-" Qrow started.

"It would be a unit I have absolute faith in and one that has had prior experience in training people."

"You've had your units train people before?" Qrow asked.

Tobias shook his head. "She trained people before she died."

"Well, is she...safe around kids?" Qrow asked.

Tobias smirked at that. "She's the best around kids."

"Well, i'll think about it. Give them a few days and maybe i'll take you up on the offer. I'll ask Ozpin about it as well."

"You really do trust him." Tobias said.

"Yup." Qrow said before he started walking off.

Tobias watched him walk off before laughter brought his attention back out to the backyard. Nora had sent Ren flying across the backyard, she held her hammer like a bat as she pretended to watch a ball flying into the distance as she shouted "Home Run!"

The others were laughing as Ren attempted to shake the stars out of his eyes.

The glaring light of the morning sun piercing his eyelids coupled with the loud gravely voice of Qrow forced Tobias into alertness.

"Come on up and at em, we gotta get going." Qrow said.

"Why so early?" Tobias grumbled grumply.

"Because most hunters take the mornings to prepare for hunts or are going to the post boards to pick out the best ones, so if my contacts are going to be anywhere this'll be our best bet to catch them without searching too hard."

Tobias let out a suffering sigh. "Fine fine."

Qrow tossed a tablet onto the bed next to him. "That's your half of the list, i'm going to head out now and start looking. You're going to want to check the post board first to get there just get to head up towards the school, you can't miss the main path it leads you straight there."

Tobias looked at the device and powered it up, the more he scrolled the higher his eyebrow got. "I thought we were getting a raiding party together not an army."

"Some of those people might be on hunts, actually if i'm being realistic a good majority of those people will be on hunts. So we might as well check for them all. We aren't going to look for them all today, i've highlighted the section of people I want you to try and find today, they are closer friends and acquaintances than the others and will be easier to convince." he began to walk away before stopping and turning back to look at him. "Almost forgot, if you end up in the shady side of town...just be careful and uh...try not to attract too much attention to yourself." he added before finally walking off.

Tobias groaned as he stretched before going down stairs, there was a bowl of a porridge like meal already waiting for him as he sat down at the table. He continued to look down the list. The highlighted section was about twenty people then there was at least another twenty people not highlighted. "Just how many people does this guy know…"

After Tobias had finished his breakfast he stood at the front door. "I am not doing this by myself." He muttered. "Brave Leader Alessa, Courageous Blade Amus, Double Voltage Julius, come!" The room lit for a moment before their forms appeared in the light.

"Hey summoner!" Julius greeted him. "Whaddya need?" he asked with a smile.

Tobias waved at them all before speaking. "Im looking for some people, I need you three to help me find them." Tobias said as he showed them the list." each of us have five people to find, we need to either confirm whether or not they are in the city and if they are to come back here and speak with Qrow." he said,

"Consider it done summoner!" Alessa said eagerly.

"And I suppose I don't have to say it but I will anyway, no magic whatsoever." Tobias said as he opened the door. "I'll meet you guys back here, let me know if you have any luck."

Tobias walked off following the path as Qrow had told him as the three watched him walk off before setting off in the opposite direction.

* * *

"It's not often we get to stroll around and enjoy a different pace of life for a change." Alessa said as she walked leisurely down the path."

"True, it is a rarity that must be cherished, however we mustn't squander summoners kindness! We must complete our task as best we are able." Amus said.

"Well said." Alessa agreed. "Julius already ran off near the area Tobias will be looking, do you wish to head to the lower levels or shall I?" she asked.

After a moment of thought Amus replied. "I shall go to the lower levels." and split off from Alessa taking a long winding path down the cliff side.

It was a pleasantly sunny day, a nice cooling breeze made sure it wasn't too hot. Such perfect weather of course made people come out in herds looking to enjoy it.

* * *

Tobias sighed as he pushed around yet another citizen not watching where they were walking as he finally saw his destination. The post board for hunter contracts had been surprisingly barren of all activity, and after a few minutes of asking around he was directed towards a rather upscale inn in the center of the town that went by the name of Foresters. As he entered it was obvious this was a very upstanding establishment, a small band played in the corner and was well lit and it had an easy going atmosphere to it. The wooden floor while worn was well maintained, hardly and nicks or scratches. Patrons were all seated and enjoying themselves from the looks of it. Not wasting any time Tobias walked up to the bar where the innkeep was currently serving a group of celebrating young men, hunters by the looks of it. The man nodded towards Tobias and held up a finger. Tobias nodded and occupied himself by gazing around the room as the man took the parties orders and prepared their drinks.

The clink of glass hitting wood brought Tobias's attention back to the barkeep who was now standing in front of him.

"For being so patient." The man said as he gestured towards the amber liquid.

The man was a few inches shorter than Tobias but was lanky. Dark brown hair and dark green eyes, like a lush forest. "Can't say i've seen you around. This place is a nice little hub for most of the hunters so I tend to get to know them pretty well. Just passing through?" he asked.

"Kinda, im looking for a few old acquaintances while im in town however but I can't seem to find them maybe you've heard anything?" Tobias said as he took a sip of the drink. It was mild as far as alcohol went, with a rich aftertaste and left just the right amount of burn in the back of his throat. "Im looking for a woman named Rosemary Hutches and her partner Zackery Bayside."

"Oh? Aren't you a little young to know them?" The man said with a raised eyebrow.

Tobias chuckled and took another sip as he thought of a lie. "...They are friends of my uncle, he used to take me out to meet them all the time but we lost contact a while ago. And i've been looking for them."

"I see." the man said while nodding. "Well all I really know is that they took a mission that had them clear out a rather large section of forest to the north but that was about a week ago and no one has heard anything from them, hopefully they are alright and it's just a rough mission."

Tobias sighed. "I don't suppose you know Samuel White do you?"

"Actually I do...but looking for him isnt going to do you much good now im afraid." the man said solemnly.

"What do you mean by that?" Tobias asked.

"He was on a mission and got caught by a couple of Ursa. They managed to get him out but he died in transit."

Tobias cleared his throat. "I...hadn't heard…But what about Cerise Powell or Robin Hunter?

"Can't say i've heard of them." The man responded thoughtfully rubbing his jaw.

Tobias finished the glass and stood up. "Thank you for your time, sorry to bother you."

"Oh? Not going to order anything?" The man asked a little dismayed.

"I stopped by to ask some questions sorry." Tobias said as he made his leave.

"You've never heard of any of these people nor do you know anyone who would?!" Julius asked incredulously. "From my understanding they are rather renown hunters in this city."

* * *

Dishes rattled on the table as the disgruntled man slammed his fist on it. "I've already told you boy I don't know nothin! And i'm not planning on knowing anything of the sort neither. I suggest you leave before we start having some real issues. Go back from wherever you came from." He spat out.

Julius gritted his teeth before stepping outside. The door slamming loudly behind him. Through it he could hear a muffled. "Dam hoodlums always coming in asking questions that aren't any of their damn business.

Julius began to walk away, after a few feet the door opened and closed again and a voice called out. "You wanted to know what happened to those hunters right?"

Julius turned around to look at the man who was speaking to him. And older man with large spectacles that reminded him of Elimo's. "I'm actually part of the mission coordination department here in Haven."

"And you know the whereabouts of these hunters?" Julius asked.

"Yes...but the answer probably won't be pleasing."

Julius stayed silent, signaling the man to continue.

"They all died recently really, about a week ago… there was some kind of information glitch and it swapped a bunch of info around for various missions… the missions they took on where severely misinformed and were meant for actual teams, not solo hunters...

"I see…" Julius said slowly. "Thank you for the information."

"The man nodded and re-entered the small bar."

* * *

The Golden Mountain was the name of the inn she had entered. After a half hour of searching Alessa finally found where the random civilian had tried to direct her two. It being a popular hunter hub, Alessa looked around, it wasn't terribly busy. A few groups of patrons but none were noticeably hunters. After a few moments of standing at the door she sensed she was being watched. She scanned the room once more and made eye contact with a woman sitting in the far corner of the inn on the opposite side of a man. Drinks were already on the table so it was apparent they had been here a while. Not thinking anything else of it Alessa walked over to their table. As she got closer she removed her helmet, shaking her head to get the loose locks of hair out of her eyes and smiled kindly at the two, the woman was gawking at her, her face rapidly turning a lovely shade of pink while the man who was darker in complexion looked back and forth between the woman and her with an amused expression on his face.

"Excuse me." she said once she was in polite speaking distance. "But could I have a moment of your time?"

The woman practically scrambled to her feet. "Of course! You want a drink? It's on me!" she said rapidly.

Alessa smiled and shook her head. "No thank you, but I was hoping you could help me im looking for a few people and I was referred to this place as being a popular hunter drinking spot so I was hoping you might know something?"

"Yea ask away!" The woman said.

"Three are missing… what about the other two?" Alessa asked.

"The city hasn't confirmed anything yet, they haven't been out of contact long enough for people to send search parties. The young woman said. "Are they friends of yours? " she asked with a small smile.

"Yes...I was hoping to catch up with them but then I had heard about all of this… So I was hoping they had returned and I had missed them instead." Alessa said.

The woman visibly brightened. "Oh so your visiting? Well maybe I can show you around the town maybe we can look for them together? See if they made it back alright?" she said with a slightly hopeful expression

Alessa looked down at the woman, nearly half a head shorter than her with long version of a pixie haircut. She brushed her strawberry bangs out of her eyes as she looked back up at her. From what Alessa could tell the woman was a huntress if not from what she knew then from the collapsable spear strapped to her back was anything to go by. It was a beautiful weapon by all standards, the long narrow metal head was lustrous and sharp and the craftsmanship on the handle and incredibly sturdy looking was well made. The colored tip was probably made of pure dust as well to add more impact to the attack.

She was small in figure, wearing a small tank top coupled with short-shorts that showed off her lithe and fit body.

Alessa blinked down at the woman before clearing her throat. "I'm...sorry to disappoint by I do visit quite often and i'm quite familiar with the town. Also I have a...lunch date...with someone and I really can't be late."

The woman dropped her head a little. "A-ah… Im sorry then I didn't mean to…"

"Think nothing of it!" Alessa exclaimed as she put her helmet back on. "I truly appreciate the information and the gesture. Have a good day!" she waved as she left the homely inn.

The woman stared at the door for a while before a hand patted her on the back, making her stumble forwards. "Even thes best of us strike out from time to time Coral." The man said with a chuckle.

Instantly Coral rounded on him, her cheeks a brilliant pink. "Shut it!"

* * *

Amus frowned as she looked around. She was obviously in the slums of the city and most of the people she had tried to communicate with had been unhelpful to say the very least. Amus clicked her teeth as she navigated her way through a messy alleyway. "Disgraceful that the city would let a section become this derelict…" Amus muttered to herself as she walked along the run down, hole filled path looking for anyone who seemed like they would know anything.

Unfortunately for the most part there didn't seem to be any hunters in this section of the city, and the guards stationed around were absolutely no help either. Mainly poor civilians or the more shady variety of businesses were located around here.

A loud crash caught Amus's attention from an adjacent alleyway along with someone shouting. "Get lost you dam rodent!"

Amus frowned in the direction of the alley but didn't hear anything else. "Vermin problem then…" she muttered to herself. As she continued to walk further into the slums. Eventually she made her way into something akin to a marketplace, whether all the stuff that was being sold here was legal or not was up for debate. It was surprisingly busy, people shouting and catcalling all around, vendors promoting their wears and attempting to entice customers to come look. Different scents wafted through the air, from cooked foods to incenses to more earthy pungent aromas that gave the place far more life than had been seen in the surrounding areas.

Amus approached what seemed to be a weapons vendor. As she neared the average sized man with plenty of stubble smiled at her. "Ah and what have I done to have been blessed with such a beautiful sight at my store front today? How may I help you?" the man said bowing his head graciously.

Unphased Amus spoke. "Im looking for some huntsmen...perhaps you could point me in the right direction."

Immediately the man's smile dropped from his face. "Ma'am if your looking for huntsmen you are in the wrong place. I suggest you head down to the Dirty Sack if you looking for huntsmen to do some dirty jobs."

Amus blinked. "The Dirty...Sack?"

The man nodded and pointed behind him. "It's about a half mile down the road, now if you aren't going to buy anything i'm going to need you to leave, your blocking potential customers.

"I appreciate it." Amus said and walked off.

The Dirty Sack, as the man had called it was indeed...dirty. It didn't look reputable, it didn't sound reputable and frankly it didn't even smell reputable.

Amus was watching the entrance, looking at the types of people who were going in and out of the...establishment-Not stealthily, her armor wouldn't allow for it nor would her hair but any who noticed her watching made no move to stop her so she simply waited for...something. Eventually something caught her attention, the sounds of a faint argument behind her made her turn around and look down the alley way she was leaning in.

"Let Me Go!" someone shouted, a woman from the sounds of it. "Just leave us be!"

There was a laugh and then a man replied. "We told you, you spend some time with us here, We'll leave you and your brother alone."

Amus frowned and began to finger the pommel of her sword.

"I don't want to! Just tell me where my brother is!" the woman continued to shout, their voices growing closer.

"Quit your shouting girl, no one around here cares enough to look at the commotion your causing."

As they came around the corner Amus finally saw them. Two men around the same height and build, one was shaven and one had a lot of facial hair were "escorting" a younger woman by her arms as they walked leisurely towards the tavern.

Finally Amus gripped the handle of her blade and stepped forward. "I would hope gentlemen such as yourselves would respect the woman's decision to not accompany you!" she said loudly.

The two men started slightly before turning around and looked at her. "Woman?" the shaven one scoffed. "Better take a closer look doll, I think you'll find the term rodent more fitting."

Amus narrowed her eyes. "I was under the impression that most racist wanted nothing to do with Faunus, yet you take her with you all the way here?" she said.

"Just showing the animals where their talents lie, it's either this or deep in a mine somewhere, certainly where her brother belongs."

At the mention of her brother it sparked another round of struggling from the girl. "Quit that!" the hairy one said as he slapped her with his free hand.

In a flash Amus's sword was fully drawn and pointed at the two men. "Release her at once! I shall not let her come under harm while I am here!"

The men looked taken aback for a moment before both of them pulled out small pistol like guns, the difference was the gun looked boxier than a pistol normally would and the magazine stuck out from the handle. "I mean we'll leave her here if your happy to take her place lady. But your going to have to drop the sword first" The bald one sneered.

Amus frowned. "Huntsmen?" was the only thing she said.

"Just visiting, actually heard this was a fun little section of town from a friend."

"You are the worst kind of people." Amus said tightening her grip on her sword. "Sworn to protect people yet this is what you do behind their backs?! Evildoers, prepare yourself! Depending on how well you fight this may well be your last breath!" Amus said as she lunged forwards.

The men jerking backwards in surprised at how much distance Amus covered.

The fight barely lasted a minute. Amus stood above the two groaning men, their weapons in pieces beside them. She turned to look at the woman they had been with. "I trust you are okay?" she said holding out a hand for her to grab.

The woman in question looked at Amus's extended hand in surprise before grabbing onto it hesitantly. As if she expected her to jerk her hand back suddenly.

Amus smiled as she brought the girl to her feet now face to face Amus could clearly see the small mouse like ears on the top of her head. Her face gave a very mousey impression as well. A little round and wide eyes. "Yes! Thank you so much for helping me!" She ducked her head in a bow before Amus tapped her shoulder, causing her to look back up.

"Don't thank me yet. I do believe you are looking for someone correct?"

"Yes! My brother, he went out to do some errands but there was a big crash so I went outside to check on him and those men were there and they dragged me off!"

"I see." Amus said thoughtfully putting things together in her mind. "I do believe I know where your brother is, let us go."

They walked all the way back through the slums to where Amus had originally heard a disturbance. As she entered the small side street they noticed a large pile of boxes knocked over. Moving them with easy Amus revealed an man not too much older than the woman she was escorting and had the same mouse ears. The woman behind her squeaked in excitement as she hugged the man and shook him. "Jeremy! Jeremy get up!"

Amus watched for a moment before shaking her head. "Hes unconscious, he might have a concussion. Do you live nearby?"

"Yea! Just down the street!"

Amus bent over and lifted the unconscious man with easy, propping him over her shoulder fireman style she prompted. "Lead the way."

Amus's watched the women's ears twitch rapidly as she held her head down. "Thank you for everything you have done! How can I repay you!"

"You will be okay with him like that?" Amus asked. And the woman rapidly nodded her head. "Yes is isn't the first time something like this has happened.

Amus frowned. "I see...well if that's the case then I shall be on my way.

The woman looked up at her. "You don't want anything…?"

Amus shook her head. "I have things to do and people i'm looking for. Good day." Amus said as she left. Leaving the mousy girl staring at the empty doorway in disbelief.

* * *

Qrow and Tobias sat across from each other in silence. "So you found nothing as well huh?" Qrow said. He took a long swig of his flask before speaking again. "Well, we will give it a few days and try again...Ill come get you then."

"Sounds good." Tobias said before adding, "So, what do you think of all this? Im aware the grimm got stronger after the fall but should it really be taking that many hunters by surprise?"

Qrow frowned. "Well whatever it is, its nothing good. I've gotta talk to Oz. Get some rest we have some time.

The next morning Ruby and the others came upstairs, breakfast in hand. It was almost midday and Tobias had not been seen nor heard from. Ruby knocked on his door. "Tobias? Are you there? Your food has gotten cold." After a few moments of silence Ruby turned to the others who shrugged. Ruby opened the door and peeked inside. "Tobias are you feeling okay?" she said as she looked in the room and saw Tobias sitting on the bed with his eyes closed. She stepped inside, followed closely by the others.

"He's...meditating?" Nora asked as she leaned forwards as if to inspect him more closely.

"It would appear so." Ren said. "We should…" he trailed off as the air in front of them seemed to warp and bend before the sound of shattering class and a flash of light blinded them all. As the light faded it revealed five figures skidding to a stop in front of them. They gave the others a quick glance before quickly sprinting towards the other side of the room, where the air had begun to warp and distort. As they neared it a golden door appeared out of nowhere. The person in front didnt pause, crashing through the door and vanishing, the rest right behind, vanishing as quickly as they had appeared.

Still blinking the spots out of their eyes they didn't see Tobias open one eye. "What are you guys doing?" He asked causing them all to start. "Oh! Um we were coming to see why you hadn't came down all morning but we are really sorry for interrupting your meditation!" Ruby said quickly as the others nodded in agreement. "Meditation?" Tobias repeated curiously. "I was just monitoring my units who are doing some things for me. Don't worry about it." Tobias said as he got off the bed, taking the plate of food from Ruby's hand. "Let's go back down. Thank you for the food by the way.

It was a rather lazy day for the most part. Team RNJR and Oscar ran some light training but aside from that the activity in the house was low, aside from the blur of Tobias's units moving through. They were seemed to be coming through faster, their fastest reappearance clocking in at around five minutes.

The only person who seemed to be strained was Tobias. He sat on the couch and took deep breaths as they continued to appear and disappear from existence.

The next day Ruby managed to convince Tobias to let them watch him summon and send them through the vortex, as he called it. It took up nearly two hours of the day and team RNJR and Oscar witnessed a procession of creatures, humanoid beastly and just straight up alien, None of them gave any notice to them however, following Tobias's unspoken orders without a second thought and vanishing as quickly as they appeared.. They came in all shapes and sizes and he only had them stay for a minute at most, giving Tobias various things then instantly leaving again..

True to his word Qrow woke Tobias up early again. "Let's hope we have better luck today." Tobais said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

Qrow merely snorted as he left. "We'll see."

Tobias got up and got ready to leave. " Brave Leader Alessa, Courageous Blade Amus, Double Voltage Julius, you know what to do. Lets go." he said as they appeared in front of him. They simply nodded and left without a word each of them splitting off into a different direction.

* * *

The sun was just starting to set by the time Qrow and Tobias met back up. They were at the main mission posting board, it was just as barren as it had been a few hours earlier.

"Dead or missing huh." Qrow muttered more to himself than Tobias.

"Something-." Tobias started before Qrow interrupted him.

"Get back to the house. I'll be there in a little I just need some time okay?" Qrow said looking more than a little disheartened.

When Tobias returned to the house the others had just started making dinner. "Let me help you guys." Tobias said eager to take his mind off the depressing events of earlier.

Ren gave Tobas a once over before looking him in the eyes, thankfully not saying anything he pointed to a large pile of vegetables. " Wash up and dice those for them then?' he asked. Tobias gave a small smile and went to the sink. The others picking up on Ren's avoidance of asking Tobias how he day was thankfully stayed silent. Keeping the conversation light.

"Ruby can you start placing dishes on the table for me? We are just about done here.

"You got it!" Ruby said as she grabbed a large bowl and moved into the dining area. After a moment Ruby let out a sharp gasp and the sound of the bowl shattering drew everyone's attention to Ruby who was standing stock still staring at the doorway. Everyone rushed to Ruby's side. "What's wrong Ruby…."Jaune trailed off as he stared at the doorway. Standing tall in the doorway was Yang wearing a pair of aviators, with Weiss right behind her. All eyes instantly went to her right arm, which was now black, yellow, and robotic. The room was silent for a while before Yang took a step forward and removed her glasses. Lilac eyes looking straight at Ruby.

Ruby rushed forwards, letting out a choked sob and enveloped her sister in a hug, who returned it fervently. Qrow appeared in the doorway from behind Weiss. "Well i'm glad there's no awkward family reunion stuff going on. I hate that." He said with a small smirk.

"Yang how did you get here!" Ruby said through tears. Refusing to let her sister go.

Yang gave a wry smile. "I met my mom. And had her send us to Qrow. But ya know...im not the only one here sis."

Ruby perked up again and looked over Yang's shoulder to see a rather hesitant Weiss standing behind. Instantly she reached around and pulled Weiss into the hug. "I'm so glad to see you both." Ruby said between sobs.

Weiss finally broke down, as tears started to steam down her face. "I'm glad to see you too." she said as she buried her face between their shoulders.

Dinner was very enthusiastic, to say the least. Yang and Weiss made their rounds greeting everyone and reconnecting. Tobias smiled, as they all caught up and Ruby and the others recounted their epic journey. When Ruby got to the part were Tobias saved them from the bandit both Yang and Weiss looked over at him. "You know...when I had been captured. There were some badly burned bandits that were walking around." That was you?" Weiss asked.

Tobias shrugged. "Might have been, there's a lot of bandits in the world." A heavy hand fell on Tobias shoulder as Yang looked at him seriously. "Well I for one want to say thank you, for saving my sister and for what happened at the fall. I heard you gave me some medication and it helped stabilize me you left before I could say anything."

"Sorry about that." Tobias said. Yang just shook her head. "I know you had something to do, the others had filled me in. But!" she exclaimed, banishing the serious air in an instant. "Who would have guessed that the scrawny lad we met back in the forest would be end up being able to take out a bandit group practically by himself! So what kind of weapon do you use? To be honest you look like a sword guy like Jaune."

"I still use my units, believe me. But at the time I was using an axe, as for my weapon...I guess you could say I use a plethora of them depending on the situation."

"Hmm just as weird as always huh Tobias? By the way! Nice tattoo you didn't strike me as a tattoo but it looks nice." she said slapping his shoulder.

"Thanks…" Tobias said as he rubbed his shoulder.

The rest of dinner was filled with shenanigans and good cheer as well as Yang detaching her arm more than a few times.

"Hey, kids we gotta talk." Qrow said from the doorway, looking very serious. Everyone glanced up at Qrow with the obvious question in their eye. "C'mon in the living room." he said as he walked into the room. Yang frowned and stood up, walking quickly into the room, Weiss and Ruby right behind her. The others followed at a slower pace. Once everyone was in the room Oscar, who was obviously Ozpin at the moment cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner for this but this is a conversation that needs to be had. I'm sure you have many questions and some people might have more than others." he said looking pointedly at Yang who was staring at him intensely.

"We are also going to tell you about the situation at hand concerning the hunters Tobias and I had been looking for." Qrow added.

"You told us everything right?" Yang said standing up. "I'll be in this for as long as Ruby is and we need to know everything that you do this is a matter of trust if we are going to be helping you.

Ozpin nodded. "There are a few things I have not told you because they are too compromising however the moment I can tell you I shall, and you can ask me anything about myself or my magic and I will readily answer you. As you said miss Xiao Long, we are working together on this, transparency between us is of the utmost importance. With that being said, are there anymore questions?" Ozpin asked as he looked around the room. When no one said anything he nodded to himself. "Very well, I want you all the enjoy the rest of your evening, it is a pleasant reunion and I belive you should make the best of it. Ozpin released possession of Oscar and the boys clumsy countenance immediately made him stumble into the seat behind him with a yelp, causing everyone to let out a chuckle despite themselves. Everyone began to walk back into the kitchen, conversation slowly beginning to spark up again. Tobias was about to join them when he felt a hand on his shoulder.. He glanced over and saw Qrow looking over at him seriously, he motioned him over to the other end of the living room and spoke quietly. "We're out of time and with Yang and the heiress here now we really don't have the resources to get everyone ready. How prepared can your training make them for what we are up against?" Qrow asked.

"I can prepare them for various magical styles and strengths and teach them how to survive in a fight if it comes down to it." Tobias replied seriously.

"You can do that?" Qrow asked disbelief on his face.

"Me? No but one of my units can, and we can train them around that." Tobias said.

Qrow nodded and placed a hand on Tobias's shoulder. "Do what you need to in order to get them ready, for anything and everything."

Tobias looked into Qrows eyes. "I'll get what I need right now."


	32. Chapter 32

**More or less on time, better than a month of two am I right? This one is decently long, and an old friend re appears! Getting ready to wrap up mistral so like forward to that big ole finale. As always let me know what you think and please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 10: Tobias's Training Camp

Ruby woke up with a large smile on her face. With Yang and Weiss here she was feeling infinitely better - not that Jaune Ren and Nora weren't great friend - just the knowledge that the team was nearly back together made her so ecstatic, now all they needed to do is somehow find Blake again and they would be complete. She was eager to enjoy some more quality catch up time with Yang and Weiss, she went through her morning routine getting ready to get the day started. Once she was freshened up and dressed she burst into the hallway and went over to Weiss's room, no one else seemed to be up, but she heard some rustling downstairs so maybe Ren us up and preparing pancakes again -or meditating- you could never know. She reached Weiss's door and knocked rapidly and loudly. "Weiss! Weiss! Are you awake?" Ruby asked excitedly. A moment later the door opened to reveal Weiss, who was in the process of trying to decide to have an annoyed glare on her face or a nostalgic grin. "Yes, im up. Must you try to break down the door?" she asked.

"Sorry im just so excited!" Ruby said hopping on the balls of her feet. "Lets go get Yang!"

"Very well, it's not right to waste away the day sleeping anyway." As they walked further down the hall they could hear the tell tale movement of others waking up in their rooms. As soon as they reached Yang's room Ruby bounded, fist in the air ready to slam on the door when she was jerked back by her combat skirt. Weiss glaring at her for a moment before walking to the door in a much more controlled manner. Right before she tapped on the door it flew open, nearly smacking Weiss in the face and causing her to stumble backwards where Ruby caught her.

Yang gave a loud yawn as she stretched out in the doorway, groaning as she stretched her muscles. She popped one eye open to she the other two looking back at her, Weiss in Ruby's arms. Smirking Yang said. "Barely been a day and you two are already glued at the hip again?"

"We were just coming to get you up." Weiss said narrowing her eyes. "Also I can see your brutish tendencies haven't changed after all this time." She said, ignoring Yang's comment.

"Well normally no one is standing outside my front door waiting to get hit by it this early in the morning." Yang said with a grin. "Was there a reason you were out here?" She asked.

"Yes!" Ruby interrupted before Weiss could say anything else. She grabbed Yang by her arm and pulled her out of the doorway. "We gotta catch up more! Let's go eat." She said as she started to drag them both down the hallway. Yang started to laugh as Weiss began to scold her about dragging people around.

As they reached the kitchen they found they were the only ones around. "Odd, I thought I heard Ren down here or something." Ruby said as she sat at the table. Weiss had gone into the kitchen to begin brewing some morning coffee and maintaining conversation from there. As the smell slowly wafted through the house it roused the other inhabitants. One by one they began to stream down the stairs. Ren instantly heading for the kitchen and not long after the smell of pancakes replaced the smell of coffee.

As they were eating the back door suddenly flew open. As everyone looked at the door Tobias and Qrow came walking in. Tobias was sporting a cheshire grin while Qrow walked by, his face impassive . "This is on you, let them know and come get me when you are ready."

His grin not fading in the slightest Tobias nodded. "Don't worry they are in good hands."

"Whats...going on?" Jaune asked hesitantly drawing Tobias's attention to all of them.

"Im glad youre all up!" he said as he clapped his hands loudly. "Today is your first day of training."

"But we have been training ever since we got here." Ren pointed out.

Tobias chuckled and rubbed his hands together. "No no, your first day of El Gaian training."

Everyone at the table except for Weiss and Yang stiffened up. "U-uh Tobias?" Ruby said lifting a weak finger. "I-i don't think that we are umm equipped to handle the kind of training you do...So perhaps we should just stick to our training you know?" she said. With the others nodding rapidly, Weiss and Yang still looking around in confusion. "What's so bad about El Gaian training? It sounds interesting." Yang said.

Jaune Ren Ruby and Oscar all shook their heads rapidly, even Nora was looking a bit hesitant.

"It doesn't!" Jaune said almost desperately to Yang. "You haven't seen him train. Its absolute madness, frankly you cant even call it training. It's just war!"

Tobias clapped his hands together drawing attention back to him. "Unfortunately for you all Qrow and Ozpin have giving me control of your training. We need you ready and this is the best way to get you at your best." Instantly everyone looked at Oscar who held his hands up. "Tobias never said how he would train us! He just asked and neither him nor Qrow elaborated!"

"Once your done eating get your gear and go out back she's already waiting for you. Qrow and I have a few more errands to run." Tobias said as he began to walk out of the kitchen.

"She…?" Ruby said wondering who it could be.

Tobias stuck his head back around the corner. "Oh and try not to irritate her too much, she's gotten better but she can still be testy around other humans if they annoy her too much."

"It can be too bad." Yang said. "I mean Ruby, Weiss and I have come out on top of his units before."

Laughter came from the other room, obviously Tobias's it didn't stop until the door opened and closed, blocking out the noise.

They all stood just outside the backdoor staring at the handle, apprehension in the air. At least they were until Weiss let out a scoff and pushed through them and flung the door open. "Nothing ventured nothing gained. Is that not the saying? We might be ready for anything and if this will help us we should be grateful for the chance, now come on." Weiss said stepping outside. Yang pushing out next. "Yea it can't be that bad. Its Tobias, the training can't be that intense, he thickened up a little but he still seems pretty scrawny."

"Yang I don't think you actually have taken a close look at Tobias recently…" Ruby said before another voice cut her off.

"Do not belittle Tobias's training, I might have to make yours worse as a result, a deep but still feminine voice said. They looked over to where the voice came from and saw a rather large and imposing figure standing by the cliff side looking down. She had her back to them, she had long light blue hair and was wearing a purple cape with what looked like large fangs sewn into the edges, she wore a type of helmet that looked like a skull from the back, and as she turned around to face them their suspicions were confirmed. She wore a strange purple skull on top of her head with one of the horns broken. Purple shoulder guards and knee guards that also looked to be apart of some kind of animal while her boots looked akin to wolves claws. She had a bodysuit on lined with gold leaving the rest of her skin exposed. She also had a metal band wrapped around her torso with three strange green relic looking pieces hanging off. She was also wrapped up in bandages around her wrist and thighs and the skin that wasn't covered in bandages showed a rippling muscles and a myriad of scars criss crossing her entire body, even her face which was decorated with a single eyepatch. Her other eye however was a light purple almost matching Yang's in color, the only difference was the hardened look in hers.

"How does Tobias fight through all that blood loss." Ruby heard Yang mutter to Nora as she closed Jaune's open mouth, she looked backwards and saw Yang staring at the womans very ample breast."

The woman began to walk over to them, she reached behind her back and pulled out two rather familiar looking pistols. "She does not look like someone who would use such a small weapon…" Weiss said as she watched the woman, a hint of envy in her eyes as her chest bounced with every step.

"Ruby." The woman said before tossing the pistols at her. She caught them and blinked in surprise. "Tobias forgot to give those back to you."

"I'll explain later." Ruby said to Weiss and Yang who were giving her questioning looks.

"Now then." the woman said speaking loudly. "Since I know who you all are its only fair you know who I am. "My name is Signas, Blizzard Fang Signas if we are using honorifics but please refer to me as Signas. I will be training you and teaching you how to survive encounters with people with higher abilities than you and people with magical capabilities."

"S-survive?" Jaune said. "Don't you mean fight off?"

Signas's eye locked onto Jaune's as she spoke. "No I do mean survive. Tobias has instructed me to prepare you with the very worst scenarios in mind. So trust me when I said you will be training to survive."

Everyone shuddered, there was an...air around Signas, a heavy atmosphere that felt like she had been through something incredible horrible and it only served to drive her point in deeper.

"Now then. Today we will be doing some simple sparring as I learn your weak points and your strengths as well as making you stronger, tomorrow the real practice will begin. A quick lesson will be given once we get to the training grounds.

"When we get there?" Jaune echoed.

Signas nodded and pointed at the cliff side. Ozpin told us about your initiation trial and we replicated it to a lesser extend. The training grounds is at the base of the cliff. If you can't make it down then you are better off going home, this is your only chance and it is the easiest thing that will be done today.

Everyone walked to the edge of the cliff looking down. "I'll meet you down there." she said and dropped off the cliff side hopping from small precarious ledge from even smaller more precarious ledge as she made her way down.

Everyone looked at each other then back down the cliff. Jaune cleared his throat. "I uh...who here is good at rock climbing?"

Ren looked closely at the cliff face. "Jaune, you and Oscar follow me down. Step where I step okay?"

Jaune and Oscar both nodded, looking incredibly nervous.

"Well then." Yang said flipping her aviators over her eyes. "I hope the rest of you remember your landing strategies." she said as she got a running start and jumped off the cliff.

* * *

Ruby wasn't sure what to expect when Signas had said training grounds but she was very surprised at what she saw when she made it down. There was a fifty foot circle of cleared out forest, the trees that were cut down were used as the boundary and any stumps that had been there had from the looks of it been ripped out and dirt packed back over any hole it might have left. Signas stood at the opening of the arena watching Jaune and Oscar slowly make their way down, Ren guiding them.

"Excuse me, Signas?" Weiss said. Causing the woman to break her attention away from the two on the wall to look at Weiss. "I was wondering why do you refer to Tobias by his name but most of the others that we met call him summoner?" she asked.

"Familiarity, mainly. For some it's a habit that just stuck but i'm his second eldest unit, i've grown out of it and since I insisted he needn't be polite with me he insisted the same."

"Second oldest huh? So you must know him very well."

"I know just about all his quirks, things hes likes and so on. I've been with him since the very beginning."

A rumble and a yelp brought everyone's attention back to the cliff, the rock Oscar had been holding on to had broken off causing Oscar to start falling off the cliff. Jaune reached out, just barely catching him by the arm and letting out a yelp as he dragged him off the cliff wall as well. Sigas watched them fall in mild interest, Jaune pulled Oscar into his chest and aimed his back towards the ground as they fell the rest of the distance landing hard with a solid thud. After a moment Jaune let out a groan and rolled Oscar off of him. "You're heavier than you look." Jaune said.

"I uhh im sorry? But thank you for that." Oscar said. Jaune shook his head. "We're in this together we gotta keep each other safe."

I'm glad you said that Jaune." Signas said with a small satisfied smile. "Now that we are all down here it's time for your lesson. Teamwork will keep you alive in the most dire of situations, if you work together you can overcome nearly anything. Working together is difficult. But it brings out our true powers. We will be working on teams at a later date for now we will be covering individual weaknesses."

"Glad I could help…" Jaune said as he joined everyone else.

"Know that if you don't take this seriously...if you don't fight like your life depends on it broken bones are the lightest injury you will get off with today. So, are you all ready?" Signas asked. As they all gave cheers with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Yang slamming her fist into each other caught her attention. "Yang, you will be first." she said as she walked to the center of the arena.

Yang nodded and followed her in. Singas just watched her for a moment, her eye seemed to be looking straight into her giving Yang the strange feeling of wanting to cover herself from the woman's gaze.

"Do you think you can get me to concede?" Signas suddenly asked in a low tone.

Yang blinked at the unexpected question. "I think I have a shot, we've done it before."

Signas let out a hum and crossed her arms. "Very well. It's obvious you are not the same person from when you first met Tobias. But you still aren't good enough, and you definitely aren't good enough to defeat me. I'll show you just how different we really are." Signas said as she got into a stance, she was crouched low both of her hands held in front of her in a claw like fashion. "You may begin when ready." was the only thing she said.

Yang narrowed her eyes at the woman and settled into a fighting stance. Her stance was completely foreign to Yang, she guessed it was something from El Gaia but something else felt off, she didn't look like someone who fought with their fist. Deciding that nothing was going to get done staring at each other and that Signas was adamant that she came to her Yang decided to go in guns blazing. Using Ember Celica to boost herself forward she rushed Signas. The instant she got close enough she went for an uppercut straight for Signas's jaw. Instantly Signas grabbed her hand and lifted it up, simultaneously grabbing Yangs shirt. Yang's eyes widened in surprise as she was suddenly flipped and slammed onto her back making her lose her breath.

"That was only the start of it. This is going to be a harsh lesson but its one you all need to learn." she heard Signas whisper into her ear "Tobias was holding the others back when you met them, he is not holding me back, we are in a unknown and dangerous situation this is no time to play nice, it is a time to be ready. That is why you are out here, that is why i'm here. To make sure you don't lose any of your family like I did."

She heard Signas hop back. "Now get up, get ready. We are doing this for real now."

Yang got to her feet, a determined glint in her eyes. Signas looked right back at her. "That's more like it." she said as she got back into that odd stance. However this time the space between her closed fist shined and glowed, when it faded it showed an absolutely massive curved greatsword. The blade was taller than the woman who already stood tall over Jaune and wide. One half was a dangerously sharp blade with a slight hook at the end obviously meant for tearing and the other half was some black and yellow carapace the hilt and handle were also adorned with more large fangs almost, the yellow looked like it was glowing. Signas held it easily with one hand. "This is not like the tournament you fought the others in. Now get mad! Come at me with everything you've got!"

As Ruby and others watched Yang get solidly bodied for at least three minutes, the woman sending her flying with every successful attack Yang not even being able to get close as the woman moved with inhuman speed, despite the massive blade. Signas continued with insanely fast revolving and rotating chains of attack making in near impossible for Yang to get close without nearly getting cut in half. All the while Signas would make some backhanded comment as Yang was struggling to pick herself up but it was obvious they were starting to get to her, her hair flickering and glowing more and more. "Last time I mocked someone like this I lost my eye" Signas said almost nonchalantly as she blocked a punch and kicked Yang away. "What can you do?"

Finally she seemed to hit a breaking point. Yang let out an enraged roar and ignited, her semblance blazing bright.

"Pay attention!" Signas shouted at the others. "This is what I mean by surviving an encounter with someone with magic!" she said as water whipped into existence, it quickly accumulated and formed the head of some kind of cat creature and a massive claw that hovered above Signas. One thing that Ruby noticed was that the cat head had a broken fang as well as a scar going across one of its eyes much like Signas herself Ruby assumed.

Yang launched herself at Signas once more, still blazing, but the moment she got within ten feet of Signas her semblance just faded, like someone blew out a match. In her shock Yang faltered for a moment as she felt her flame and strength leave her before her hand was grabbed my Signas again. She looked Yang straight in the eyes and said. "I specialize in fire resistance magic. However I completely nullified your flame, what does that tell you?

Yang didn't respond simply staring at the woman in shock.

"Your pitiful flame couldn't even warm my skin. If your enemies here have even half as much magic as I do your as good as dead alone not to mention how will you protect the ones closest to you, you must get stronger and rely on your teammates-your family. Thank you for being a good example." she said before pushing Yang backwards and spinning blindingly fast, Yang couldn't even react as the massive blade slammed into her unguarded stomach, sending her flying towards the entrance of the arena, the moment she left Signas's presence her semblance sparked back to life burning even brighter after the last hit.

"You're finished. Next." Signas said as Yang staggered to her feet. "I've still got aura...I can keep going." Yang said stubbornly, upset she couldn't even get a hit in. Signas looked at her again and once again she felt like she was looking straight into her. "Not enough to keep going." she said. "Whos up next, do not make me pick."

Weiss stepped forward. "I'll do it." she walked past Yang to was staggering towards the rest of them.

Signas simply got into her stance again. "Begin when ready."

Weiss took a deep breath and drew Myrtenaster, cycling the chambers until it stopped on her yellow dust, her blade instantly crackled with electricity. Weiss saw Signas's eye and lip twitch for a moment before her face settled again.

Creating a glyph beneath her Weiss shot forward, blade pointed forward the run her through. Instantly Signas reacted, but right before Weiss was in range she cycled her chamber again, stopping herself with a black glyph, as Signas swung at nothing but air. Switching back to yellow dust Weiss lunged forward rapidly stabbed Signas, then leaping backwards before she could recover. Signas looked at her expression unreadable. "You always were the most tactical, i'm glad you were paying attention."

Weiss took a deep breath and readied herself again. Leaping forward, once again Signas took the bait but instead of stopping herself with the black glyph she formed it in front of Signas's blade causing it to stop. Signas grunted in surprise and tried to push it out as Weiss leapt forward again only to shriek as she got blindsided by frigid water.

"This is what my aura is, it's not just for show." Signas said as Weiss picked herself up. Changing chambers again Weiss charged forward placing a glyph in front of both the sword and the watery claw. Signas instantly let go of the blade, causing it to vanish in a flash and spun in the opposite direct, mid turn the blade reappeared in her other hand. Caught by surprise Weiss tried to block it with Myrtenaster but to no avail as she was sent tumbling to the ground. Continuing with her spin Signas jumped into the air, blade held high over her head and brought it down guillotine style over Weiss. Who just barely rolled out of the way, not a moment later the cat head crashed down onto the ground spraying water everywhere. Weiss ground her teeth together as Signas looked at her expectantly. "Impressive, but how long can you keep that up." Signas said. Weiss shivered as Signas looked at her, feeling as thought she was looking into her for a moment before the feeling passed. Shaking off the feeling Weiss created an array of glyphs in a sphere around Signas, who looked around in surprise. Weiss launched herself into the array, using them to boost her speed and stay on Signas's eyepatched side as she darted towards Signas who was obviously more than used to fighting with one eye as she dodged to the side as Weiss flew past. Weiss cycled her chamber again, creating a massive black glyph underneath Signas, rooting her in place.

Launching herself off another glyph Weiss darted straight for her back.

There was a massive clang and Weiss was nearly sent off course as she slid off Signas's massive greatsword. The woman had put it behind her guarding in the same fashion Qrow had. Weiss jumped from glyph to glyph gathering speed, all the while creating more and maintaining the one keeping Signas rooted. Each time she passed by for a strike it seemed Signas manage to twist to block the blow and slide her off of the blade. "All this technique and no power! Where is your killing blow?" Signas said as she continued to revolve in place miraculously keeping up with the blur known as Weiss.

"You want a killing blow?" Weiss said as she slid to a stop just outside the glyph trapping Signas. "Well here you go!" she said as she stabbed the ground where the glyph was. Weiss put as much lightning dust as she dared into the glyph quickly turing it from black to yellow. Signas looked down at the glyph her eyes widening marginally as Weiss detonated it. An explosion of electricity blew through the arena knocking Weiss back a few feet and causing everyones hair to stand on end. Weiss gasped and panted as she got up.

"That was...a lot of dust you used wasn't it." came the question from inside the dust cloud.

Weiss's eyes widened as Signas walked out of the cloud, hair slightly singed and skin red. "Why are you fighting?" Signas asked out of the blue, she spoke in a low tone as to not be overheard but the question still threw Weiss for a loop "Pardon?" Weiss asked confused.

"You had the perfect chance to leave, multiple chances even. Yet you stayed, after what you encountered with Raven, what you heard from Ozpin and Qrow. What is your reason for fighting? Do you still worry about your family's honor? Or is it something else."

Weiss was silent for a moment "Im fighting because...aside from Winter, my true family is here. I'll bring back honor to the Schnee name but I won't let the name control my life choices. So i'll stand beside my family and fight with them."

Signas nodded Very well, then let's make sure you can achieve that dream. I recall you telling Tobias you can summon, what happened to that? I told you to come at me with everything." Signas said as she began to stalk closer as Weiss stared back in dismay. Shaking her head Weiss quickly planted Myrtenaster into the ground and began to focus her energy as a large glyph appeared in between her and Signas. Signas stopped advancing as a hand appeared from the glyph, causing her to look in interest. A massive armored knight pulled itself up from the glyph that had created it. Towering over Signas, it pulled out a blade that was easily three fourths its size. Signas eyed it for a moment before looking back at Weiss, who was still knelt over her blade. Raising her eyebrow she took a step forward, and the knight repositioned itself between her and Weiss.

"Important question, is this...what you call a summon?" Signas called out.

Weiss pulled her sword out the the ground and stood up. "Yes." She said a little out of breath.

Signas narrowed her eyes. "And you actively control it?"

"Yes." Weiss said, wondering why this was important.

"Then please do not insult me by calling this mere construct a summon in front of me!" Signas said as she charged forwards. Weiss instantly focused her attention of Signas and the knight moved, it was deceptively fast, much like Signas. The knight slashed from the side, meeting Signas's sword, and actually pushing her to the side before she spun and shifted the blade off her own, she then darted forward and cut at the leg of the knight, Her blade bounced off of its armor but not before staggering it. Signas jumped back out of range of the blade that had came down in retaliation. The knight reset its stance and charged Signas this time who watched and waited for the giant to come to her. As the giant readied to swing Signas darted forward again, as she swung the knight vanished, throwing Signas off balance for a moment. The telltale humming of Weiss's glyphs sounded off behind her and Signas turned just in time to see the knights massive blade crush her into the ground. Signas rolled out of the way before a follow up attack could be performed and sprinted towards the channeling Weiss. The knight vanished again and reappeared out of a glyph in front of Weiss. As she neared the knight drew back its blade again and swung towards her. She spun her sword at the knight, as their blades connected the knight's was completely thrown to the side. Following her momentum she continued to spin a second time, this time angling the blade so it slashed vertically across the knights leg. As the knight fell again Signas's blade carved a slash into the dirt as she continued her spin until the blade was over her head, as she jumped into the air and brought the blade down. As Signas's blade made contact with the knights neck it sliced through with ease, the knight slowly dissipating into snowflakes as Weiss looked up at the woman, panting heavily

"Most people don't have the strength to make their dreams come true." Signas said as she settled into a ready stance a few feet away from Weiss. Who responded by reading herself as well.

"Not by themselves anyway." Signas added before rushing Weiss who attempted a weak thrust to defend herself. The attack was easily slid off Signas's sword and Weiss's eyes widened as she suddenly felt Signas's hand wrap around her throat, after a brief moment of weightlessness she felt herself hit the ground so hard it caved in slightly around her. She stared up at Signas as the woman lowered her sword her vision going dark.

Signas stared back down at Weiss. "You have a good support system to make sure you achieve your dream, the family you have behind you will make you stronger than you ever thought possible." Signas said as she watched as battle crystals and heart crystals spewed out of Weiss as her icy blue aura cascade down Weiss's form and faded as her eyes flutter shut.

Signas let out a sigh and stretched her arms as the heart and battle crystals flew towards her. Each crystal soothing the electric burns caused by Weiss's impromptu bomb. "Reminds me of a pinata...break the aura and all kinds of goodies come out." She said as she looked down at Weiss who was still on the ground. "Oops…" she mutter to herself. "Frail little thing." she then turned to the others. "Whoever is next step forward! Also someone come get her, she got knocked out." Signas shouted.

Yang carried Weiss out of the arena while Ruby stepped forward. "Tobias has seen your resolve multiple times…" Signas said as she appeared to mull over something. Finally her eye locked back onto Ruby's and she settled into a stance. "Begin with ready.

Ruby circled Signas looking for some kind of opening but Signas gave no inclination of moving forward or lowering her guard. Ruby settled into her stance as she prepared to rush Signas watching carefully she waited for a moment, right as Signas blinked Ruby rushed her, flash stepping and closing the distance in an instant, bringing her scythe across, as the massive blade careened for the back of Signas's neck, Signas stepped forward and grabbed the handle of Crescent Rose and tore it from her hands, she let go of her greatsword which vanished in a a burst of lights as soon as she lost contact and socked Ruby square in the jaw. Staggering back in suprise Ruby was blindsided by the frigid claw that impacted her, knocking her away. Now cold, wet, and weaponless Ruby got to her feet in time to see Signas put Crescent Rose underneath one of her clawed boots and rebrandish her sword. Ruby and Signas stared each other down for a moment before Signas's gaze traveled lower. Looking pointedly at the pistols holstered on her waist. Ruby slowly reached down for each of the pistols, keeping an eye on Signas just incase she tried to do something. She held the two odd looking pistols in her hands, she remembered Tobias saying something about enchantments and them being able to help people wield them but nothing felt any different to her. Hoping at the very least she could still fire them Ruby quickly aimed with one of them and pulled the trigger. The gun gave off a loud crack and a pure white bullet flew from the muzzle, it was rather slow by bullet travel time standards but still fast enough to be effective. However Signas blocked the bullet without any trouble, as the bullet hit her blade it burst into white rose petals that slowly floated to the ground. Reaching out, Signas plucked one of the petals from the air and brought it close to her face, inspecting it as it slowly dissolved into nothingness. "I can see the beginnings of magic...but it is still indistinguishable and weak." She said. "Now come!" she said in a louder tone. "If you make me wait anymore you will very much regret it."

Ruby nodded and flash stepped to Signas's left, as she raised the guns and fired off three shots, which Signas instantly spun to block.

Ruby let out a huff as she tried to think of a plan. Pure force was not going to work against her and from the examples Weiss and Yang gave before they were finished was that Signas had no trouble adapting to different styles. Without Crescent Rose, Ruby really had only one option before her. Her best chance was to outpace her. Ruby gritted her teeth and aimed at Signas again, firing a few shots before instantly flash stepping to the left of her she focused her semblance primarily on her hands, firing a massive barrage of bullets. Multiple harsh pinging noises echoed through the forest as Signas's form was covered by white petals. Sudden movement in the petals caught Ruby's attention as Signas rushed her. She yelped in surprise as the massive blade came careening for her head.

On instinct -thought Ruby doubted it was her own- she raised one of the guns and slid the blade over just a fraction using the bladed guard, as Signas crushed the ground Ruby twirled back and fired. Hitting Signas a few times before she flash stepped away as her watery aura smashed into the ground where she was standing. Signas removed her blade from the dirt and reset her stance, nodding approvingly at Ruby before her gaze took on a slightly more clinical feel it felt like Signas could see everything about her the way her eye almost gleamed for a moment. Ruby flash stepped to the side of Signas, unleashing a barrage of bullets she then flash stepped to the otherside of Signas, as she was still defending the first wave she unleashed a second barrage and continued to rapidly flash step in a circle around Signas firing notstop, eventually the middle of the arena became nothing but a white and red rose petal storm.

"Morte Verto!" came the shout from the center of the petal storm. Water burst from center, dispersing all the petals as the rapidly moving water either tore the petals to shreds or blew them away, revealing Signas who was also in the middle of spinning. Caught off guard Ruby was swept into the current, the moment she felt the water hit her she lost all her strength, dropping the pistols as she was knocked around in a circle around Signas, the water was even colder than she could have imagined as it whipped past her.

For a moment the water stopped right as Signas slammed into the ground with her sword and suddenly the arena floor burst open like a geyser, the high pressured water slamming into Ruby and sending her into the sky.

As Ruby unceremoniously slammed back into the ground, aura flickering and fading Signas spoke. "If you couldn't tell already you're finished." Ruby tried to push herself up but found she could barely move them. "Here drink this." Signas said holding a bottle over Ruby and placing the pistols next to her. She flipped her over and poured the contents into Ruby's mouth. The taste nearly made her gag. It tasted like the medicine that was for kids that was too sweet and ended up being on a whole other level of disgusting than regular medicine. Her strength started to come back to her and she felt a little better, at least good enough to stand up. She still felt like she had just gotten beaten up by the ocean as she stood there shivering, and water dripping from everywhere. As Ruby left the arena Signas shouted out "Next!"

Ren was the next brave soul to step forward. As they began it was very apparent that Signas was moving faster than before and her strikes were more precise, where was a moment ago she would crush the ground if her sword hit it now it seemed to glide through the topsoil, hardly slowing and leaving only a clean cut across the earth as she swung and spun at Ren. Any disarming technique Ren had was completely negated just from the fact that Signas's sword was so heavy it was nearly impossible to stop any momentum once it had started, and from the way Signas moved she was nothing but a whirling unstoppable ball of steel and icy water, blocking was out of the question considering his weapon was not much sturdier than Weiss's and he didn't have any glyphs to bolster his defenses. Needless to say the match had ended swiftly, the moment Ren took an aggressive action Signas snowballed him.

As Ren staggered out of the arena Nora stepped in, eyeing Signas as she adjusted her hammer. "Oh? I've seen that look on Tobias when someone tries to attack Tilith. It's good you two have such a strong bond." Signas readied herself. "You know the drill."

As with most fights with Nora, this one was just as explosive as all the others. A minute into the fight Signas seemed to lose a portion of her speed and her attacks were back to crushing the ground the majority of the time instead of gliding through. It didn't stop her from launching Nora into one of the trees at the edge of the arena, but it was noticeably different. As Nora picked herself back up they clashed again, Nora being the only one who could actually manage to somewhat go blow for blow with the woman. Alas she couldn't keep up the pace, Signas finally overpowered her, and as Nora tried to pick herself up Signas called the end of the match.

Jaune walked into the arena as courageously as possible as Signas stared him down. She raised her eyebrow before settling into her stance. Jaune charged forwards, Signas didn't move she just watched him get closer and closer until he was finally close enough to strike. As he lifted his sword she swung at his torso, hitting his shield which he raised just in time and lifting him up into the air. Miraculously he landed on his feet and continued forwards. Jaune's match lasted a decent time longer than the others had, simply because along with his shield, Jaune could take one hell of a beating. Signas kept a careful eye on him everytime he got back up but aside from looking bruised up he was still going strong. Finally Signas knocked the sword out of his hand and swept him off his feet. Planting her boot on his chest she looked down at him and nodded. "You're plenty strong, but you have room to improve. I'm sure you don't want something to happen like what happened at Beacon to happen again."

Jaunes jaw tensed up as she brought up the past. Unphased Signas continued. "That's why you are out here. To make sure you are strong enough so something like that never happens again."

Jaune let his head fall back on the dirt as she said that and got off him. "Now then...Oscar your up!"

Oscar was trembling at the opening of the arena as Jaune walked out. He tentatively walked into the arena. "U-uhhh, Ozpin? I don't suppose you could help me out...or give me a few pointers?" he muttered to himself.

' _Don't forget to keep your aura up or she just might cut you in half.'_ Ozpin's voice echoed in his head.

Oscar gulped and waited for more but Ozpin remained silent. "Guess i'm on my own here." He adjusted his grip on the cane and looked up at Signas who was staring at him rather intensely, if he didn't know any better he could have sworn she had heard him.

"Afraid boy?" she said, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I- A little…" Oscar managed to get out, nearly wilting under her intense gaze.

"Well then, you better decide if this is right for you after all. You will be fighting monsters, killers, psychopaths and all kinds of things out there. If you cannot stand here then perhaps you need to go back to your farm!" she almost snarled. "This is not a place for the meek, or the hesitant. It gets you and others killed."

"I'm afraid yes!" Oscar said, interrupting Signas. "But I also want more! I don't want to be stuck on a farm my entire life."

Signas's gaze lessened in intensity. "Oh is that right?" she asked as he eye flashed for a moment. "Then prove it." she said as the temperature began to drop rapidly. The rapid temperature change was enough to wake Weiss up, as she looked up she found everyone was staring Signas, following suit she turned towards the arena.

Everyone's eyes widened as the area around Signas tinted with red for a moment before a pulse of pure energy burst from her, the temperature dropped so fast they could see their breath and the ground beneath Signas's feet had begun to freeze over. The water that formed the beast that hovered over her began to move torrential force and grew double its size. "Consider me a precursor of what's to come boy! If you cannot do anything here what could you possibly do later down the road!" She said as she stalked forwards the ground rapidly frosting whenever she took a step.

Oscar was frozen where he stood as he watched the woman grow closer and closer, her blade taking on an icy sheen. Signas towered over Oscar, glaring down at the frozen boy as she raised her sword. Her watery beast opening its maw as well as she smashed the blade down at Oscar.

Oscar managed to unfreeze at the last possible moment, rolling to the side as the blade crashed into the dirt, cracking the earth around the impact point. Despite doding being split in two Oscar forgot about the massive catlike head, which crashed down after Signas, slamming Oscar into the earth, the frigid water making him lose his breath in shock. Coughing Oscar got on all fours and looked up at Signas, who slowly drew her blade from the earth. "So you managed to move after all. Or perhaps it was Ozpin that moved you." she said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I-t was me!" Oscar got out between coughs.

"We will see." she said in response.

Oscar looked up about to ask what she meant when he realized she was already in his face. She kicked him hard in the chest. Sending him flying across the arena. When he finally rolled to a stop. "I suppose it was you." She said walking over to him. "No veteran fighter would willingly leave their eyes off their opponent even if he was on the ground." She picked him up by his armpit and carried him out of the arena and dropped him in front of the others. Her presence still freezing the ground around her and causing the others to shiver. "You all wait here, I'll be back in a moment." Signas said as she jumped over them and began to scale the cliff wall, her boots digging claw marks into the wall. After a few seconds of jumping she was back over the ridge.

Everyone was silent as they rested until Nora spoke up. "So...Still think Tobias's training couldn't be that bad?" Weiss and Yang simply groaned in response.. Yang leaning on Ruby's lap.

"Are you okay Weiss? You did take a pretty heavy hit." Ruby asked.

Weiss sat up. "My throats a bit sore but other than that i'm fine. What about you?"

"A bit waterlogged, but im okay." Ruby responded.

Ruby felt someone touch her cheek, she looked and saw Yang's metal hand poking her. She looked down at her. "Yea Yang?

"When did you become a gunslinger Rubes?"

"Since...ten minutes ago…" Ruby said, she held up the pistols so the other two could get a closer look at them. "They are Tobias's but I guess he's giving them to me since I can use them."

"So there like...Magic?" Weiss said.

"Yea. Nora and the others tried but it wouldn't fire but when I tried it went off."

"So, can you like...cast wishes like in that old fairy TV show we used to watch?"

Ruby let out a giggle. "I wish, that would be cool. But I guess shooting magic bullets is a pretty cool secondary prize. Speaking of magic…. Weiss what you did back there was incredible! Since when were you able to do that?!"

"Since always technically." Weiss said. "But I wasn't really that good at summoning until the fall really...then when I was in Atlas I just practiced as much as I could." Weiss paused for a moment before looking at the others "Frankly Jaune...Ill admit you've come a long way. You are a far cry from who you were when we first started."

Jaune smiled. "Yea, its like Ren said, we all are. But after all of this it's obvious there's still a lot more growing to be done.

The sound of metal scraping on stone brought everyone's attention to the cliff face. Signas was sliding down the sheer cliff while holding what looked to be a large platter. As she got closer to the ground she looked behind her and jumped off, landing lightly while clamping her hand down on a pile of bowls and a pot lid. "Good work everyone. Its lunch time now, training without proper nutrition is nothing but a waste of energy." She quickly set the platter down and actually made the dishes herself. Pouring some kind of stew into each bowl. The broth had a rich dark reddish brown hue to it. As Signas passed around the bowls everyone got a better look at the contents, it was filled with vegetable looking things she had never seen before. She heard a hum of delight to her left and saw Yang already digging in, soaking up as much of the broth as possible with the meat and taking a bite. Ruby shrugged and speared a picked of a piece of meat with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth.

The explosion of flavors nearly made her cry out in surprise it was so good, the meat was also so tender it practically melted in her mouth.

"Signas this is incredible. What is it?" Ren said.

Signas looked up from the last bowl she was pouring the stew into. "It's a delicacy from El Gaia, Dragons blood stew." she said as she took a bite from her own bowl.

Ruby instantly let the piece of meat hanging from the chopstick fall back into the broth, the others taking similar actions. Weiss looking faintly green.

"Dragons...Blood?" Yang asked hesitantly. "Like...a fairy tail dragon that breathes fire and all that?"

"Well they certainly aren't fairy tails and this one didn't breath fire...but yes the broth and meat are all dragon." Signas said, apparently enjoying the meal as she ate with her eye closed. Yang looked back down at her bowl, almost half empty and gagged slightly. "Signas's eye popped open as she finally looked at them and noticing each of their bowls on the ground or held away from them. She narrowed her eye at them "Its rich in nutrients, very good for you. Finding the materials needed for this meal are rather difficult, so if you waste it not only with Tobias be upset but you will have to deal with Lancia's wrath.

"Lancia?" Ruby asked.

"The girl who made the food." Signas replied, continuing to eat her portion. "If she finds out and comes down here I wont stop her."

Everyone shivered at the threat and picked up their bowls again, thankfully the mean was good enough they could just enjoy the taste and try not to think about what it was made of. As they continued to eat Nora spoke up. "I thought you guys didn't need to eat Signas."

Signas simply shrugged. "We don't need to but we can. Lancia likes to make food for everyone and gets made if we don't eat it. Besides, its tasty."

"Can Tobias cook this kinda stuff too?" Ren asked.

This made Signas stop eating and laugh out loud. "N-no." she said between chuckles. "No he can't cook that well, very basic stuff but nothing special." She looked almost nostalgic as she spoke about it.

Signas had given them a while to eat but as soon as they had finished and properly rested she flung them back into training, this time with a more team focused approach as their paired up in groups of four and attempted to stick together while Signas tore them apart but was careful not to take down anyone's aura again. They ran drills all day as well as various exercises and workouts both familiar and alien.

Dusk was approaching fast when Signas had finally called for them to finish. "Expect tomorrow to be more personal." Signas said. "Lets go, you all need rest." she said as she began to walk towards the cliff face.

"You aren't expecting us to climb up the cliff in this state." Jaune gasped out desperately. Signas stopped and turned around to look at them, a finger on her chin as she mulled it over. "No, Tobias wont let me." She said as she reached the cliff. Secured to the top was a long rope ladder that hung all the way down to the base, the rest of it pooling at the bottom. "I expect you to climb this however. If you want to sleep in a bed I suggest you get to it." Signas said as she jumped up the cliff.

Everyone groaned and slowly began to line up at the ladder, slowly and laboriously pulling themselves up rung by rung.

As they staggered into the house they saw Signas and Tobias each of them with their chins in their hands. Neither of them were talking but every so often either Tobias or Signas would shake their head as if disagreeing on something. Eventually Tobias nodded and Signas smiled contentedly and leaned back. "What are you doing?" Yang asked.

"Planning for tomorrow's training, little cubs." Signas said. Tobias opened his eyes and gave Signas an odd look. Signas either didn't notice, or more likely chose not to react to him.

The others looked at each other, the term of endearment, feeling alien coming from her.

"Dinner has already been prepared for you, eat up and get some rest. You will need it for tomorrow ." Signas said. They all nodded and began to file into the kitchen, the warm smell of good cooking wafting through the air.

As they left the room Tobias looked over at Signas.

"What." She said as she continued to lay back.

Tobias was silent for a moment before shaking his head with a small smile." Nothing."

Signas scoffed. "I can read your mind, it certainly isn't nothing."

"Well since you can read my mind you don't have to ask what now do you?"

"Signas let out a growl as she finally opened her eye and looked over at Tobias. "They have potential, it just needs to be nourished."

Tobias nodded. "Well i'm glad you think that. I think i'll have you watch over them, manage their training and all that."

Signas smiled almost imperceptibly. "That's fine with me. Who knows, maybe they will be able to do what I couldn't with the other guardians."

"No offense but their little family is a whole lot more stable than yours was." Tobias pointed out.

Signas's expression became more pained. "True enough…"

* * *

The next morning Signas came and woke them all up more or less kicking down their doors and scaring them awake. In a hour everyone fed dressed and standing out in the back as Signas paced back and forth on near the cliff. "Same as yesterday you will make your own way down the cliff." Signas held up the long rope ladder from the night before. "This will be let down at the end of your session today, or when night falls. Whichever comes first." Signas said shrugging. "Today we will look at some noticeably weaker points in all of you and hopefully you will either learn how to overcome it or learn how to compensate for it. None of this will be instant, it will be a long process so I expect you all to stick with it to the end. Now then, get going don't keep your trainers waiting. And don't disappoint, little cubs." She said as she turned and jumped off the cliff.

"Trainers?" Jaune asked in a confused manner.

As they reached the bottom of the cliff they discovered what Signas had meant by "trainers" Signas herself was nowhere to be found, instead there were five other people waiting for them at the bottom of the cliff. "Now that everyone is finally down here...we can get started." The one who Ruby recognized as Michele said. "We're going to split you guys up and train like that for today, Weiss and Ren you are with me. Come on." She said before walking away briskly.

Weiss and Ren looked at each other for a moment before jogging over to catch up.

"Jaune, Oscar. You two will be training with me." said an older looking man, he had gray hair and wore a simple set of silver armor with red accents over a white undershirt and white pants. He also wore a mask however part of it was cracked, revealing one blue eye. The rest of the mask was white and silver, the silver on the lower part of the mouth gave the illusion that he had a large mustache. Turning and walking into the forest his long red cape with gray trimming and white fur on the inside billowed behind him. He beckoned to two to follow after him as he slowly started to disappear from view.

A taller woman with orange hair held together with an ornate crown piece both and the front of her hair and at the small bun in the back approached Nora. She was adorned in silver armor with yellow accents and had a simple white cloak with gold and black trimmings along the edge. "My name is Rayla, you will be training with me Nora. Come along. Nora nodded and followed the woman to another section of free space.

Ruby was approached by an none other than Ciara herself. Her ever present self assured smirk still present on her face. Ruby smiled brightly at her and waved excitedly. "Ciara! How have you been!" Ruby asked.

"My my it has been a long time hasn't it." Ciara said, her smirk growing larger. "This is the best treat i've had in months. Are you ready to begin your training?"

"Oh yea i'm ready!" Ruby said while pumping her fist.

Ciara chuckled as she suddenly appeared in Ruby's face, her hand cupping her chin as she drew extremely close. "I hope so, i'll be taking you out of your comfort zone today. " she said before turning just as fast and walked off to an unoccupied area.

As Yang watched Ruby walk off she felt someone poke her cheek. Looking over she locked eyes with a blue eyed woman who looked a few years older than Tobias. She had long sea blue hair that was tied off into pony tails in some sections and she wore an ornate golden hair piece studded with purple gems. She had on full body armor that was also a beautiful ocean blue, just a shade or two lighter than her hair. As well as a skirt that covered her greaves that was purple and white. The woman drew her hand back and smiled at Yang. "Nice to meet you. My name is Medina. I'll be your trainer for the day." She said as she turned and stepped into the arena Signas had them practice in yesterday.

Once Medina reached the middle of the arena she spun around quickly. "Alright! Its apparent from yesterday that you've gotten better at controlling your emotions. But today we are going to work on your ability to get around situations where people fight defensively, effectively burning you out and leaving you open to a quick knockout!"

Yang thought back to one particular instance where this fact was painfully true as she watched Medina's hands shine. She brandished a medium sized shield that was shaped like a lion's head, its mane splaying out in layers of blue and gold. In the other she held a traditionally sized sword, but decorated with alien markings in the middle made of gold surrounded by a blue metal much like her armor.

Medina gestured at Yang, prompting her to adopt a fighting stance. "Now then! Lets get started, get past my shield and we will call it a day, any trick in the book is fine. I want to feel a solid hit on my body." Medina said as she adopted a more gladiator style stance, her shield held in front with the sword behind. Yang let a deep breath as she slowly approached the woman, her hands held at the ready. The woman did nothing aside from slightly rock back and forth. Yang decided on the head on approach, nice simple and a good way to gauge the strength of your opponent. Yang stepped forward and drew back her metal fist and threw it at her shield with all her might. The shield met her fist half way, quickly reversing all the momentum Yang and brought up with the punch. The shield continued to push her backwards until it connected with her, slamming her into the dirt.

"Just so we don't waste your time and mine, I am far stronger than Signas. Not to mention this is a drill about you finding ways AROUND the shield." Medina got ready again. "Alright! Get up and let's try this again." Yang sighed, resigned to her fate as she picked herself back up.

Weiss and Ren hide behind a tree, gasping for air as Michele cackled from somewhere behind them. "Get moving! You twigs can barely stand in a breeze much less take a solid punch we gotta build up your endurance!"

"This is completely psychotic! She's going to kill us!" Weiss gasped out.

The moment they had gotten away from everyone Michele had abruptly spun to face them a large war axe and an even larger gatling gun in each hand. She lifted up the gun with ease, the barrel beginning to glow brighter and brighter. "Alright, you two get running. I'll decide when you go far enough and then you run back and try to tag me. Once you do we'll call it day."

"Wait, I don't think-" Ren started before the gun roared to life, scorching the ground at their feet. Prompting them to yelp and begin to run through the forest as fireballs flew all around them.

"Okay...so, we have to get back to her it sounds like." Ren said panting quietly.

"Come out from behind that tree so I can spray you with automatic fire!" They heard Michele shout from across the forest. Ren and Weiss looked at each other warily. "Do you have a plan?" Weiss asked.

"I was hoping you had one." Ren said quietly

Weiss put her head against the bark and thought for a moment. "I could probably make a Glyphs in front of us to protect us."

"Can you make them fast enough? That gun fires rather quick."

"If I focus them just on my sword I should be able to do it."

"Okay… then let's-" Ren started to say before the tree they were hiding behind blew apart, the roar of Michele's gun cutting through the peaceful forest. The flames from the bullet were licking their heels as Ren dragged Weiss behind a different tree

"You're supposed to be running not hiding! Don't make me turn this into an open field!" Michele shouted again, this time her voice was coming from a different location.

"We gotta do this before she destroys the forest." Ren said.

Weiss nodded and Ren leaned around the tree for a moment before looking back at Weiss. "Shes still id say a hundred meters out to our east lets go!" Ren said as he quickly bolted from behind the tree, Weiss right behind him. They got about fifty meters forward before Ren saw Michele lift her gun again. "Weiss!" he shouted as she darted in front of him and raised Myrtenaster, as she did a large white glyph appeared in front of them right as Michele opened fire. As the bullets slammed into Weiss's glyph she grunted as the force of the bullets begin to make her slide back, in the middle of the barrage one of the bullets flew unimpeded through Weiss's glyph, slamming into her and detonating causing her to fly backwards. Instantly the barrage stopped as Ren jumped for cover as the remaining bullets flew past. Michele laughed again. "Oh that was a good shot.

Ren stared at Michele then back at Weiss who was picking herself up off the ground. Not remembering a time where anything got through one of Weiss's glyphs. "How did you hit her?" he shouted at her in curiosity.

"Come at get me and I just might tell you Leekstalk!" Michele shouted back in reply.

Ren felt his eye twitch in surprise at the nickname as he helped Weiss to his feet.

Eventually Weiss and Ren got a routine down, it was slow and arduous but it worked and allowed them to push safely forward. Weiss maintained a glyph a few feet in front of them and Ren would stand in front of Weiss, deflecting or destroying any bullets that made it through. They slowly but surely made it to Michele, the last barrage of bullets she launched at them seemingly lasting forever until finally it stopped. Ren and Weiss immediately collapsed to their knees, panting heavily and sweat dripping from everywhere.

Michele hummed as she eyed the two at her feet. She then walked over to two large neatly cut logs with grooves in them for better grip and picked them up. She brought the logs over and dropped them near Ren and Weiss. "Three minutes then run to me, and I do mean RUN. No jogging and if you drop the logs i'll knock you out." she threatened. Satisfied they understood the message Michele placed the gun at her feet and fired, the force of the gun launching her forwards and through the forest. Ren and Weiss tracked her as she flew through the forest leaving a burning trail...all the way back to the sparring grounds. Groaning Weiss and Ren picked themselves up, picked the logs up and began to run back through the forest.

Jaune and Oscar walked over to the opposite side of the man as he directed them. "My name is Segrud, and I will be you instructor for today." he said very formally.

He pointed at Jaune first. "As Signas fought you she could tell you have been practicing basic techniques and simple sword play. Tobias has seen it fit for me to teach you swordplay. La Veda fencing, is the technique to defend the people, and to use the sword to accomplish this. I trust as a huntsman that this is your goal yes?"

"Yes." Jaune said resolutely.

"Good. I will say this now. I know of what transpired all those months ago...and I have seen it happen before, to my beloved daughter. If you raise your sword in vengeance, nothing but harm will befall you. You must not raise your blade to avenge the dead...rather you should protect the living with it. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes…" Jaune said. A surprised at such personal info being shared.

Segrud then looked over at Oscar. "As for you, you will be practicing with Ozpin's weapon. Either getting comfortable with your own fighting style or getting comfortable with Ozpin's it matters not to me."

"Yes sir." Oscar said.

"Now then will start with Jaune since he will be practicing solo for a while after he gets the basic, do not think I will not be watching however." he walked over to Jaune, as he did his hand shined for a moment, as if faded it showed he held a greatsword much around the size of Jaune's enhanced sword form if not bigger. "Now, a quick demonstration." Segrud said as he raised his sword, holding it in two hands.

Jaune mimic's Segrud and prepared himself, shield held at the ready. "Um..one thing actually before we begin." Jaune said.

" Hmm?" Segrud replied.

"Doesnt fencing require a lighter sword? Like Weiss's rapier?"

"Perhaps fencing from this world." Segrud said. "But this is La Veda fencing!" with that he leapt into the air easily jumping above Jaune as he brought the his blade down from the sky. Jaune instantly raised his shield to block the attack and Segrud came down like a meteor strike, that blow in itself nearly knocked Jaune down but he managed to hold strong. In the next instant Jaune felt the blade move from his shield to underhim in an instant, Segrud slashed to his left at the same time flicking the blade slightly with his swing throwing Jaune's shield wide and opening his guard, impossibly fast Segrud already had his swords tip against Jaune's chest plate.

The entire exchange took a little over three seconds. Segrud drew his blade away. "That is La Veda fencing, one of the most renowned fighting styles in El Gaia. The technique is all about disarming your opponent as fast as possible and to switch from slashes and thrust with quick wrist work, are you prepared?"

"Yea. anything to help protect my friends." Jaune said.

"Well spoken, i'll hold you to that." Segrud said before he frowned. "I must let you know, this technique only works with the sword, if you have a shield with you it will only hinder you, in La Veda fencing your sword is your shield as well.

"Well, I can do this. Does this work?" Jaune said as he sheathed his sword in his shield. Then he pressed the hidden trigger causing the shield to collapse down on the blade and create a greatsword.

If Segrund was impressed it didnt show. Instead he simply nodded and spoke. "Take up a stance, we must change some things. You should only worry about this stance if you are using that blade."

Jaune held his blade at the ready and squared his feet.

Segrud walked around him inspecting his stance. After a few moments Segrud reached down as spread Jaune's feet just a inches further apart and bent his knees until he was almost squatting but just barely. "La Veda fencing is uses lunging and leaping strikes to start attacks for the most part, use the bottom of the hilt for rapid transitioning. He then demonstrated switching to three different striking positions in a mere second. He repeated the motions in slow motion next, his dominant hand never leaving the area near his hilt but his other hand pulling and pushing near the bottom of the hilt before sliding back up to meet with his other hand, giving him the most strength in his strikes while still switching quickly.

"Now you do it." he said. Jaune mimicked the moves, Segrud watching intently, correcting when needed and resetting his stance when it became too relaxed.

"Now hold this stance and continue to practice that until I say, keep it slow if you need to. You will get nothing out of this if you learn it quickly but incorrectly."

Satisfied with Jaune's start he turned to Oscar. "Now then...you must become more familiar with swordplay boy. Take out your weapon and we will begin."

Oscar brandished his cane and Segrud nodded. "Don't be never boy, im not Signas. We will take this easy and allow you to become comfortable. Oscar nodded and let out a sigh of relief. Segrud held his blade in front of him. "Now come! All your might boy or you will never reach me."

Oscar nodded and charged forward. Lightly sparring as Segrud pointed out things as the lightly sparred, every so often he would stop Oscar and return to Jaune correcting him and making him jump forward in a strike in order to become more used to it. Simply sparing and basic technique corrections were given out en mass as they trained. Segrud a strict but kind person and teacher.

Ruby walked with Ciara as they strolled near the clearings edge. Ruby felt like she knew Ciara better than most of the other units, simply because when they had first met Ciara had always been more engaged with Ruby than anyone else. "So, how have you been?" Ruby asked trying to start a conversation.

Ciara mulled over the question for a moment. "That's a rather hard question to answer, seeing as I am not of this world anymore, at least not completely and the fact that I never age...nor get sick and all that silly mortal business. Although I haven't been needed by summoner all that often, if that's what you mean so that's been rather boring. With the whole Alza Masta problem and not being able to summon me, It's quite comfortable within Tobias I suppose so it's not too bad." Noticing the questioning look Ruby gave her Ciara elaborated. "Before we get summoned from the gate we units are really nothing more than essence floating around the void around our home world some times we can exist there in our physical bodies but other times we cant. When we get summoned we get pulled from the void and into...another void I guess you could call it, but this 'void'." Ciara said as she made quotation marks with her hands. "Is apart of the summoner, and the units exist there and we can make it look however we desire. Quite a nice deal really I get my own space to do whatever I want and all I have to do is follow my summoners orders." She said.

"So do you and the other units ever mingle outside of...outside? I guess" Ruby asked.

"Oh yes all the time, some people fight all the time others like to relax and of course some of his units don't like anyone, even summoner but what choice do they have, they are bound to him. It creates some interesting friendships and rivalries from people who never met before. People like Kira, you haven't met him and honestly I hope you don't. Hot headed boy him, he fights all the time with Ryze trying to one up her but he always gets put in the dirt in the end." Ciara let out a laugh.

Ruby was amazed at the hidden dynamic between the units and Tobias. She had always just thought they had been forced together out of the blue by some mystical power Tobias wielded, but if anything they were more like a massive family.

Ciara's ears perked up as she let out a gasp. "Ah! I'm supposed to be training you aren't I almost forgot." she said as she stopped and turned towards Ruby. "Now then, I will be training you today, as my apprentice I expect you turn heads no matter where you go. Maybe spread your fame as the Abyssal Witch's apprentice." she said as she smirked at the thought. "Your skilled with a scythe and that much is obvious so we will touch on that a little but our main focus today is…" Ciara trailed off as she raised her left hand up, instantly a ethereal purple and blue flame burst to life in her palm. "Magic." She closed her fist and dispelled the flame and looked back at Ruby. "Qrow as confirmed it and your ability to fire those pistols proves it. You have some level of magical attunement in you. All we have to do is unlock it. Because I know you didn't notice during the fight but when you used those pistols you actually drained your aura faster. Its pulling your magic from the wrong source, and we have to seperate your semblance, aura, and your magic so it doesn't put strain on one aspect. As you know and as I know your semblance and aura are rather closely tied so I doubt we can seperate those, but your magic seems to come from a different source, still from your soul but its still different. If you can learn how to do that you will be able to freely use those guns and your semblance without draining your aura rapidly."

Ruby looked at her with wide eyes, all of this coming just a tad too fast for her taste. "How could you tell the guns were draining my aura."

Ciara smirked at her and suddenly her gaze felt piercing, like she was staring through her clothes and inside of her. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling and it lasted a moment before her gaze became more or less normal again. "Simple analyzing magic that allows us to see the general state of health of a person. How much vitality they have left before they keel over, how close they are to losing consciousness, if they are sick or have any kind of ailments afflicting them. It can really save a lot of lives when it is applied in a medical situation but it has its purposes in combat as well. But enough of that, your distracting me, Sit down." Ciara commanded.

"What are we going to do?"Ruby asked.

"Meditate."

"Huh?"

"Meditation is one way to do soul searching as well as focus the mind. Magic is about drawing from the nothing around you and turning it into something physical. Since you can in practice do that, you just need to send it down the right channels. Don't get me wrong this is going to be incredibly annoying for you, you are going to have to reach deeper inside yourself than you probably ever have before. Now reach inside yourself, try to feel that power that you used before."

Ruby closed her eyes and tried to focus as hard as possible, scrunching her eyes in concentration. She let out small humm before something hard and metal smacked her on the top of her head which was not protected by her aura, as she wasn't expecting to be hit.

Holding her head she cried out. "OWIE! What was that for!" she said as she looked up at Ciara who now was nonchalantly hovering her scythe around in the air, hovering a few inches off the ground laying on her side with one hand propping up her chin. "I said meditate not grunt and squirm. Close your eyes and don't think of anything just try to find yourself."

Still rubbing her head. "Don't think about it but think about finding a power I honestly can't remember anything special about? That doesn't make any sense!" Ruby complained.

Ciara gave as best a shrug as she could in her position. "Magic isn't logical yet at the same time it is logical, it defies reality and changes the rules. It's the reason why i'm floating here in front of you. Breath deeply and just focus on that for now."

Giving Ciara a sour look which she simply smirked at Ruby settled back down. Trying to emulate what she has seen Ren do time and time again. Breath in...breath out...she continued this for maybe five minutes, honestly she lost track of time after the tenth deep breath she took, finally she felt...something. It didn't FEEL magical but it was definitely a different feeling than her just sitting there maybe she was finally doing it! The feeling was slowly growing stronger, encompassing her entire body. Right before the feeling could completely envelop her another smack on her head brought her back. "AHHHHH right in the same spot!" Ruby cried out as she held her head.

"I said meditate not fall asleep." Ciara said dryly, a wry smirk on her face. "Come on, keep going we will get to combat later."

Ruby whimpered as she closed her eyes again, wishing she had a helmet because Ciara always got her when she completely let her guard down.

Nora wiped the sweat off her brow as she watched Rayla land lightly a few feet away from her. Lightning sparking off her body. "You've got a good head on your shoulder, you work well with others… so really we just have to make you that much better of a person, your semblance has a limit, everyone does has one. So we train it, make it stronger, giving you more strength in return." Rayla said as she twirled her sword.

Rayla had wasted no time once they had gotten a reasonable distance away from the others. Turning to Nora and giving her a light shock that made her yelp in surprise. "Prepare your semblance lets see how much you can take!" Rayla said as she unleashed a large quantity of electricity into Nora, making her shout in surprise. After a few moments Nora finally got control of herself and began to focus the electricity into her semblance. After a few more seconds of pure concentrated lightning Nora started to groan and instantly Rayla stopped and drew her sword. "Now then let's see where that power goes and how fast it falls off."

Nora rocketed forward and swug at Rayla, who blocked it but was sent flying. Her greeves cut divits in the earth as she finally stopped herself. Instantly what looked like a dragon made of pure electricity flew out of Rayla. Nora couldn't help but watch in awe for a moment as it soared through the sky...Straight at her. As the dragon crashed into her she felt lightning arc up and down her entire being. She fell to her knees as the electric assault finally stopped.

"Your semblance is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it will get." Rayla said, suddenly appearing next to Nora. She took Rayla's extended hand and stood up. "Think you can take another one?" Rayla asked.

Nora took a deep breath and nodded making Rayla smile brightly. "Ah I love the enthusiasm of the young!" She said as lightning crackled around her once again.

A hour after midday, everyone met back up at the arena Yang and Medina resting there. Yang was drenched through and through, water dripping from her hair and clothes her eyes were still red as well. If it was any indication of how she was feeling.

"Whoa Yang, what happened to you." Jaune asked as he and Oscar approached, both of them fliching back slightly as Yang glared at him.

Yang's face soured as she remembered why she was in this state in the first place. Attempting to get around that dust forsaken shield, she had actually managed to grab on to the top of it, getting ready to leap over it she saw Medina's devious smirk, water suddenly blasted from the mouth the lion, Yang flew off of the shield and floated in the air. Her eyes popping wide in shock as she was stuck in a floating bubble of water.

Nora showed up next, her hair sticking up in every possible direction and her eyes wide. Accompanied by the constant twitches in her arms and legs Jaune worried what had happened with her as Rayla patted her on the back approvingly.

Ruby was the next one to show up, followed by Ciara. Jaune got a closer look at Ruby. "Um Ruby you got a bump on your head…"

"I know…" Ruby said rubbing the bump in question as Ciara covered her mouth as she laughed.

The heavy scuffing of shoes on dirt drew everyone's attention, to Weiss and Ren. Both of them looked half dead. They were red in the face and sweat was dripping like a small river off of them. Michele walked up from behind, not much taller than Weiss. "I guess you two have a good hustle. But I expect better next time." She said causing the two to let out equally suffering groans. Both of them basically dropping to the ground sprawled out in exhaustion. Everyone stared in shock at Weiss more than Ren at the fact that she had WILLINGLY gotten on the floor in her usually pristine outfit.

"Now that we are all here. Good work today you all, we will pick this up again in a few days. Go ahead and get up the ladder and get something to eat." Medina said.

"You may need to carry those two up, but that's something you'll be figuring out for yourselves." Michele added, looking pointedly at the two bodies on the ground.

"I..I can…" Weiss started to say as she tried to pick herself up before falling back over. "Never mind…."

"Well then…" Medina said "we will see you all later!" she said as she vanished in a burst of multi colored light. The others giving their goodbye and vanishing in a similar fashion.

"Keep up the training, even if you are not with me." Segrud said.

"Till next time." Ciara said with a wink.

Michele simply set out a sigh.

"Good work today! I expect the same effort next time!" Rayla said.

As they were abruptly left alone they looked over at Weiss and Ren, who had both started lightly snoring. Glancing around Jaune shrugged and lifted Ren up over his shoulder fireman style and Ruby walked over and did the same with Weiss. Ruby let out a sigh. "Im glad shes light." She said as she repositioned Weiss. As they turned towards the ladder they saw Yang already making her way towards it. "Hey! Yang wait!" Ruby shouted, causing Yang to stop and turn slightly. "Whats up? Im tryin to get out of these clothes no offence Rubes but can it wait till I change?"

"Well, no not really. I was going to say go last."

"Eh?! Why!" Yang asked incredulously.

"Its cause your wet and dripping, i don't want to climb up after you."

"Its CAUSE im wet and dripping, I want to get up there as fast as possible before my hair gets messed up!"

"It's already messed up! Just wait I don't wanna get wet too."

"Oh? You don't wanna get wet huh?" Yang said turning around fully, spreading her arms out and wiggling her fingers menacingly. "Well then i'm going to get you a lot more wet than just a few drops of water!" She said as she charged Ruby.

Ruby let out a alarmed squeal and immediately began to retreat backwards. "No wait Yang stop! Get away from me! I- I'm carrying Weiss!"

"I guess i'll get her wet too then!" was all that Yang replied.

"Why do you still have so much energy!"

Jaune and Nora looked at each other while Yang chased Ruby around, Weiss ragdolling over her shoulder as she tried to scramble away.

Nora shrugged and her eye twitched before she gave a jerky thumbs up. Jaune simply chuckled and made his way to the ladder.


	33. Chapter 33

**Delays and procrastination is the name of the game with me im sorry but thats just how I am with this unfortunately, but I always work on it...just slowly. That being said I did go back to this chapter ALOT, I went back and removed all kinds of things and added new things to make this chapter as good as I possible could. On another note someone mentioned it early but ill just clarify it now. If Tobias is fighting with units, unless stated the leader skill will be his. If he isnt fighting, the first unit summoned unless mentioned other wise will be the leader skill that is utilized. That being said as always enjoy the story**

Chapter 11: Bloody Reunion

Tobias was lounging on his bed, getting ready to sleep when the feeling that he was forgetting something struck him. He sat in bed for a while mulling over what he could be forgetting when someone knocked on his door.  
"Yes?" Tobias said loudly so they could hear him through the door. It opened to reveal a happy looking Ruby, the swelling on her head from the bump had gone down nicely. "Good news! Uncle Qrow just said Headmaster Lionheart just had a break through with the council and he wants to speak with us tomorrow night! Also, Qrow wants to talk about it tonight!"

Tobias sat up. "Oh that is good news, took them long enough. Frankly I still think we shoulda just gone ourselves but all's well that ends well.

"So, as Ruby told you all old Lionheart finally had a breakthrough with the council. Tomorrow at eight we will head up to the school and talk to him, we are meeting him in the Haven Solar. Hopefully we will just be sent out from there so come prepared."

"On a side note concerning Lionheart." Ozpin spoke up. "Qrow has informed me he has been acting a bit strange, now the man has always had his quirks but they seem to be worse than usual. Hopefully its just nerves from the fallout of the fall of Vale. Nonetheless, we must be prepared."

"Is that it? Nothing else we should know?" Yang asked.

Qrow spoke up. "Yup, that's it. He didn't tell me much over the phone which is why i'm guessing he is just going to deploy us from there. Quick, silent, and simple."

"So maybe he didn't have a breakthrough, and just wants to send us out under the councils nose huh?" Tobias said.

Qrow and Ozpin nodded. "That seems to be the case, it would explain why he sounded so nervous and didn't tell me much over the call. So for now let's just rest and get ready for tomorrow night.

Everyone nodded in agreement and dispersed back to their rooms.

The following day was uneventful. Everyone was lounging, watching TV and socializing with each other. Ruby asked Tobias whether or not they were going to train today and Tobias said no. Going to meet Lionwood bruised and battered would probably not make their chances to getting sent on the raiding party good. After a long day of doing nothing dusk had finally started to approach, everyone went to their respective rooms to get ready. Ruby making sure all the mechanisms on Crescent Rose were responding properly and working the way they should.

As she was finishing up her preparations she heard a couple of loud thumps from down the hallway. Like metal hitting wood. The noise was coming from Tobias's room, curious as to what he was doing she knocked.

A muffled "Yeah?" Came through the door and Ruby opened it. As she opened the door Tobias said. "Watch your step." Right as she stumbled over a metal pole. Thankfully she caught herself before she went face first into the floor.

"Warned ya." Tobias said as he stared at the floor, which was covered with an assortment of weapons.

Ruby's eyes grew wide as her inner weapon nerd took in the armory before her. There were two massive great swords and another blade and a pair of short swords that seemed to go together as well as a pair of knives. She recognized the war axe he had first came with as well. Looking in another section of the room there was a regular looking bow, an exquisite looking katana. Next to that was the scythe Tobias had used in Kuroyuri and a ornate halberd. In the last section of the room laid an absolutely ridiculously cartoonish hammer that would have made Nora jealous.

Ruby reached over to one of the greatswords, it was shaped oddly, thicker at the base then slightly thinner in the middle before coming thicker at the top again, obviously a weapon made to be slammed down on the unfortunate victim.

The movement caught Tobias's attention. "Don't touch that." He said before moving over near her and lifting the massive sword up with a grunt, he walked over to the bed and put the blade down on it.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, a little confused with his actions. He had never been opposed to her looking at his weapons before.

"That one is dangerous." was his only reply.

"I mean...it's a sword I would hope so.." Ruby said.

Tobias gave her a look before picking up the blade again and pointing it at her chest, as it got nearer Ruby felt a terrible aura emanating from the blade. It pressed against her aura as if it was trying to crush her.

Tobias kept his eyes trained on Ruby's as he drew the blade back and set it down again. "I found that sword after I destroyed Alza Masta, we still don't really know what it does but i've been safeguarding it for reasons you just felt."

"Oh…Well what are you doing?"

"Picking a weapon. Don't know what I should be prepared for but im thinking this…" he said as he reached down at the foot of the bed and picked up what looked to be piece of scrapped sword hilt. "This might be good…"

"A hunk of metal?" Ruby asked in disbelief.

"You should know well enough by now there's always more than meets the eye when it comes to magic." Tobias said as he strapped the hilt to his belt.

Unable to refute the claim Ruby spoke up again. "What does it do?" She asked.

Tobias gave a grin and picked up his communicator, causing all the weapons on the floor to vanish in a burst of light. "It's a surprise, you see when we get to the bandit camp."

His dodging of the question merely sparked her curiosity even further. While the broken hilt looked shabby and old maybe it was like a dust saber from the Dust Wars movies or maybe it wasn't even a sword, maybe it was a magical cannon, or a flamethrower. The possibilities were endless. Turning towards him she pouted and gave her best impression of a puppy as she asked one more time. "Please can I know what it does?"

Tobias looked deep into her eyes and was silent, Ruby could practically see the battle waging in his eyes before he burst out laughing.

"Sorry Ruby but your going to have to try a lot harder than that to get the puppy look to work on me, I experience that on a godly level because of Tilith."

With her secret weapon effectively nullified Ruby could do no more than pout normally.

Tobias walked past her and patted her on the back as he did so. "Nice try though."

* * *

The night was pleasantly cool, the clouds periodically blocking the moon causing the streets to become incredibly dark but after a moment once again the moon's light illuminated the way. There was hardly a soul around as the group walked up the winding roads towards Haven academy. They walked in a peaceful quiet as continued to get closer to their destination. Once they had arrivied on the school grounds Qrow took the lead, stalking ahead as he went through one of the hallways that connected to the main plaza of the school. After a while the twists and turns of the hallway gave way to another open plaza, this one however had what looked like an observation tower. Further down was a large building which they were headed for. As soon as they passed the observation tower Tobias froze, his hand dropping down to the hilt on his waist.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked, stopping next to him. Qrow turned around to see Tobias frozen and looking around surrounded by the others.

"What is it."

There's magic in the air." Tobias said looking back at Qrow. "Its faint but I can sense the traces."

Qrow looked at Oscar. "Ozpin? You know anything?"

"I'm not sure how sensitive you are to these type of things but it is probably just the Relic. It is in the area after all." Ozpin said.

This seemed to appease Tobias, as he relaxed and lowered his hand away from the sword hilt. After a few moments of looking around again Tobias shrugged and they all continued to walk towards the Solar.

Qrow pushed open the large double doors, with a heavy groan they opened to reveal an auditorium of sorts. A person Tobias assumed to be Lionheart was standing atop an elevated platform looking down over them.

Everyone slowly gathered in the center of the room as Lionheart greeted them. "Ah Qrow! I'm glad you could make it….with more people than you left with last time…" The man trailed off "I ah...don't believe you mentioned anyone else with you other than the four you came with…" Lionheart said with a nervous looking smile. Tobias gave Lionheart a closer look, even from this distance it was easy to see the smile was forced. And the man continually tapped his hand on his leg nervously.

"Yea...well people just kinda showed up. But think of it this way, now we've got more bodies to get out and get the maiden." Qrow said.

"The maiden…?" Lionheart echoed in confusion. "Ah! Yes...the maiden...your still on about that I see… is that why you all have your weapons…?" he continued as he glanced around.

"Of course it's why. Why wouldn't we have our weapons? Isn't that why you called me?" Qrow said stepping forward.

"W-w-well I had to." The man continued to stutter and even took a step back.

Tobias heard Yang mutter. "Mom?"

Qrow had heard her too, instantly his head whipped to where Yang was looking, and in a blink of an eye drew his blade and fired upon a previously unseen raven that had been perched on one of the railings.

The unexpected shotgun blast made everyone jump as the raven flew around the auditorium once before flying towards Lionheart, right before it got to him the bird transformed into a dark haired older version of Yang with permanent red eyes. She wore a red and black short skirt and had a large cylindrical sheath with the hilt of a katana. The woman slowly walked over to the other side of Lionheart and leaned over the balcony. "Is that really how you greet me brother?" She said smirking. "And here I thought we were family."

Qrow ignored here in favor for shouting at Lionheart. "What did you do! Why is Raven here."

Before Lionheart could reply Raven spoke instead, slowly walking down the stairs as she did so. "Lionheart made the right choice, the choice that would ensure the safety and survival of Haven and its people."

"Your working with Salem?!" Qrow shouted in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? All she is going to do is use you then kill you. No matter what you do!" he shouted at Lionheart. "And you! How long have you been working with her."

Raven reached the bottom of the stairs and came to a stop in front of them standing atop the raised stairs.

"If you think you can beat her then you are an idiot, an idiot who blindly follows Ozpin on a quest that will only lead to those children being killed." Raven said coldly. "Nothing is stopping Salem, and the only way to make sure you come out of her plans alive is by working with her.

"Your wrong you know." Ruby spoke up, drawing Raven's attention. "If everyone works together we can stand against her. Against anything anyone tries to throw at us." Ruby took a step forward and held out her hand. "If you help us, you and your clan we can all stop what she's planning." Ruby said imploringly.

An unreadable expression crossed Raven's face before she spoke quietly. "You sound just like your mother." her expression then hardened and her hand twitched for her sword handle. She cut the air next to her, the blade leaving a red and black portal in its wake, she quickly sheathed her blade again and spoke once more. "Foolish to the end. Like mother like daughter." Raven said as a massive fireball came out of the portal, slamming into Ruby and sending her flying. Weiss and Yang flinched away from the heat from blast before turning wide eyed to the portal as well as everyone else. Out of the portal strolled one triumphant Cinder as she smugly looked at Ruby picking herself up off the ground. She was followed by Emerald and Mercury who both sported subdued smiles. Another woman came out of the portal and walked over to Raven's side, she had short black hair and slightly tanned skin with a tattoo of a bird and some flowers on her left arm she was wearing a brown vest with maroon shorts on as well as knee guards. While Emerald and Mercury didn't change much Cinder had, she now had short hair that covered half of her face wore a long red dress that had a long sleeve on one arm, completely obscuring it. Her other arm was covered with nothing more than a long black glove, which was currently burning, a small fireball sitting in her hand.

Instantly everyone but Qrow and Tobias drew their weapons. "Well well well, isn't this just a wonderful little reunion." Cinder said as she looked down at them all

"All of you calm down!" Qrow said to everyone. "We need to get out of here…"

"Qrow's right." Tobias said quietly to the others. "I could take Cinder in a fight but I can't guarantee you all wouldn't get caught up in the crossfire if she really is as strong as you say. It would be better to leave." As he spoke however Tobias focused his magic, he could feel his body temperature start to lower as he channeled his magic The tattoo on his arm slowly transitioned from green to a deep blue, like one would find looking into the seemingly bottomless expanse of the deep ocean. "Glorious Aura, Demonic Healing Blood…" Tobias muttered to himself, instantly he felt power flow through him as his magic coursed through his veins.

"Unfortunately none of you will be leaving here tonight." came a deep voice, causing everyone to turn to look at the door. Standing there was an absolute mountain of a man wearing a simple overcoat and some every day undershirt, he was so imposing they almost missed the four obviously White Fang members walk out from behind him each of them holding what seemed to be their own custom weapons. The man slammed the doors closed behind him with an ominous boom. Tobias grit his teeth as the trap they had walked into revealed itself.

Qrow turned back to Raven. "How long." was all he said, rage evident in his form, his fist were clenched and he spoke through her teeth.

Cinder answered for Raven. "Oh Raven here hasn't been with us for long. Lionheart on the other hand...invaluable in getting in to Vale in the first place."

Qrow stiffened as he glared furiously at Lionheart. "You gave up the cities hunters too didn't you. Any hunters that went out of the city you told HER ABOUT? YOU GOT THEM KILLED!"

Despite being on the balcony overlooking, Lionheart still flinched away from the Qrow's rage.

"Oh don't worry too much about it Qrow." Cinder said. "You'll be joining them in a moment." She paused for a moment smiling to herself. "It really will be like Vale all over again."

"You're a monster you know that?" Jaune said, his entire body trembling with rage. "Do you not care about the innocent people you got killed?" Jaune shouted.

Cinder looked at him like how someone would look at an insect but ultimately ignored him.

"Jaune you need to calm down." Qrow said. "Right now we need to figure out how to get out of this situation."

"Jaune remember what Segrud told you!" Tobias whispered, his hand hovering closer and closer to his sword hilt.

"Do those lives mean nothing to you?! People didn't deserve that, Pyrrha didn't deserve that!"

Jaune's distraught state slowly but surely flowed into the others as they became tense, weapons being cocked and primed for action. Cinder however did nothing but check her nails nonchalantly. "You say these things like I should know and care who these people are."

Jaune stared in disbelief at her uncaring attitude, his tear choked voice echoed through the room. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did!" he shouted at her before charging.

"Jaune no!" Qrow said but it was too late.

Qrow let out a slew of curses as Jaune rushed ahead. Emerald and Mercury made a move to stop him but Cinder held out her hand, smirking as Jaune charged forward. Jaune swung at her fiercely, right before his blade connected with her sparks flew out. Cinder had materialized a flaming scimitar in her hand to block Jaune's strike effortlessly.

"Hmm...were you that blond buffoon who was with Ozpin and the redhead at Beacon?" she said as if she wasnt pressing a greatsword away from her. "If you are I really must thank you, my plans went so much smoother after I killed Amber. That redhead insisted on getting in the way though. But I suppose it's in the past."

Jaune roared in her face as he pulled his sword back slightly and shifted his grip, just like Segrund had taught him. The sudden shift in leverage caught Cinder off guard but she was still too fast for Jaune. She dodged the thrust with easy before retaliating by kicking him, the strike sending in flying much to everyone's surprise. As he slid to a stop Cinder spoke again. "Well as wonderful as this little reunion has been I am here on important business" Cinder turned to Lionheart "Don't just stand around. Unlock the chamber." Lionheart instantly scrambled down the stairs and stood in front of the giant stone pillar in the middle. He pulled a small pocket watch from out of his pant pocket and placed it into a small indent in the pillar. Instantly the structure shook and began to move slowly down

Tobias turned to the others. "So what's the plan." he asked as Jaune slowly picked himself off of the ground.

"Ozpin says we need to get the relic." Oscar muttered back, warily eyeing Hazel.

"Ozpin doesn't seem to understand the situation we are in." Tobias snapped back.

"He's right Oz, with two maidens here we cant do much we gotta leave. Or if something big does break out we might get caught up in the crossfire." Qrow said.

"One of my units can make a solid distraction while we make a break for it." Tobias said.

"Alright let's do that then. Get ready everyone we are leaving." Qrow said.

"We can't just leave!" Jaune said stubbornly. "Not when she's right there!"

"Yea, she's right there. You see how strong she is now. She literally kicked you across the room Jaune. Im sorry to say it but you need to forget about avenging your girlfriend and think about saving yourself right now. She will kill you in an instant. Qrow said.

Jaune set his jaw and glanced back where Cinder was standing, smugly watching them.

"He's right Jaune...they outsmarted us this time, the only thing we can do is regroup and figure out what to do next." Ruby said as she kept Crescent Rose's barrel trained on the group in front of them.

"Get ready, once my squad mobilizes they can keep them busy while we get out" Tobias said as the tell tale shine appeared in front of him.

There was a loud crack behind them, and Tobias suddenly cried out and jerked forward as blood splashed out. He clutched his right shoulder as sheer agony pulsed through it.

"Unfortunately Tobias. Tyrian told us all about your semblance and how to stop it. It's a shame a semblance as powerful as yours has such a glaring flaw to it." Cinder said, that smile never leaving her face. Tobias turned from Cinder to see one of the White Fang members transform a revolver into a large bowie knife, despite the mask covering his eyes the grin on the mans face was clear to see.

He took a moment to inspect the wound on his shoulder and grimaced, it wasn't horrible but the bullet managed to pierce, and blood was flowing freely from the wound and it was too deep to take out comfortably.

He turned back to Cinder, disgust and anger all over his face. "Real shame." he said as he grabbed the hilt on his waist and drew it from its scabbard.

Immediately he was encompassed by a glowing light, when it faded Tobias was adorned with what could only be described as a knight in shining armor. He looked every bit like a fairy tale prince, silver and dark blue armor covered his entire body, the battered and discarded hilt Ruby and seen previously and turned into a shining resplendent long sword adorned with various gems with a strange black metal in its core. He had a long cape that billowed out as he flourished his blade and to wrap up the ensemble there was a crown on top of his head, part of the crown was higher than the other and the centerpiece had a large blue gemstone embedded in it.

Cinder and the others looked taken back, trying to process what they just saw. The White Fang members behind them were also mummering amongst themselves.

Cinder finally shook her head. "We don't have time for this." she said, deciding the time for talking was over. "Kill them."

"I'll take care of the four blocking the exit!" Tobias said. "Just hang on till then." as everyone prepared to fight.

Qrow rushed Raven, they attacked each other viciously as the went back and forth across the massive room. Jaune immediately rushed Cinder again but this time Ruby was with him. Before she could make it Ruby was suddenly yanked back by one of Emerald's chain sickles. Mercury was on Ruby before she could even pick herself back up but Yang was there to intercept him. Weiss was on the heavy defensive as Vernal rushed her. Nora and Ren hung back around Oscar as Hazel lumbered towards them.

The room had turned into a complete brawl, all kinds of weapons were flying around and the ringing of steel never stopped. Everyone was preoccupied with their own battles to try and help each other.

If Tobias felt overwhelmed four on one he didn't show it. He favored his left side as he fought. The four Fang members were definitely hunters at one point, or specifically trained by the White fang to combat hunters. They were good, but not good enough. The only problem Tobias was having was the fact that there were four of them. Whatever Tobias couldn't block never got farther than his armor. They worked together as a unit, slowly corralling him away from any possible assistance and room to maneuver. Tobias gritted his teeth as he blocked another round of bullets from the man with the twin knives as the dog eared faunus jabbed at him with a pike, trying to find a crack in his armor. The other two faunus Tobias couldn't tell what they were but it was a man and a woman. They circled around waiting for a chance to strike, the man who was large but still nothing compared to Hazel held a wicked looking morningstar, the spikes on it each a different type of dust at least an inch long. Any time he swung Tobias had to dodge no matter what, he couldn't block that with one arm. The other woman was far more...annoying if anything she fought with a hook sword and a small caliber pistol which was an odd combo that turned far more obnoxious the more he had to deal with it, she would constantly drag his sword up and out of the way and unload a clip into his exposed form, sometimes they were regular bullets other times they were dust rounds. Tobias parried the pike away and watched as the four circled around, slowly but surely they were starting to whittle him down. Even as he heard the muted shouts of everyone fighting around them he was forced to ignore them. It wasn't until he heard Ruby scream pierce through the rest accompanied by a blindingly bright light did he hazard a glance at what was happening with the others. He regretting instantly, the moment he looked the light seared into his eyes effectively blinding him for a moment. The light vanished just as suddenly as it appeared. Thankfully it had stunned everyone in the room for a moment. Rubbing his eyes Tobias recollected himself, staring down the four faunus as Cinder shouted in the background.

They circled around Tobias, waiting for an opening. The pike wielder charged first this time and Tobias reacted quickly. Sidestepping around it he yanked the pole towards him grunting as the action caused the bullet to tweak inside his shoulder. He didn't falter however and stabbed at the man who was pulled in, his surprise making him easier to pull. Tobias thrusted his sword at his chest. The man let out a heavy grunt and fell back, letting go of the pike. Tobias smiled as he felt the shoulder wound shrink on itself, the bullet getting pushed out. He threw the pike to the ground and rushed the faunus, intent on taking out his aura to even the odds a little. As he swung done the man with the mace skirted in front of his comrade and threw his arm up. Tobias did not hesitant to swing against the man's bare arm. When he connected with his arm a brilliant flash appeared and a luminescent wall appeared between his arm and Tobias's blade the wall of light pushed back against Tobias, nearly making him lose grip of his sword. The woman helped the downed man up as the man with the mace held steadfast with his wall of light in front of them. As he contemplated the wall in front of him he almost didn't notice the bowie knife man rushing him from behind. He spun around the first blade and as the second blade flew for his neck Tobias caught the man by his wrist and began to press against it, forcing him to let go of the knife. Once he did Tobias kicked him away and followed up with a slash that cut down is front. He let out a sigh of relief as he felt the wound close fully, the bullet getting pushed out.

The man with the mace rushed forward to protect him, he jumped in front of him and the wall of light reappeared. Tobias stared them down from the other side trying to come up with a plan of attack.

The man transformed his remaining knife back into a revolved and fired at him from behind the wall. The first round catching him by surprise, the woman joined the man as they fired through the wall of light at Tobias, who could do nothing but block the bullets and retreat. Eventually the pushed far enough that they retrieved their fallen weapons.

The group fell in behind the man with the mace and Tobias was suddenly faced with a one man phalanx formation, instead of just spears however there were guns involved as well. He had little choice but to conceded ground at a rapid rate as they continued to attack, and with no immediate way to counter Tobias was to focused on finding a way around the wall to notice that the rest of the room had gone utterly silent.

It wasn't until he faintly registered Ren shouting at him and the sound of large footsteps behind him did he break his gaze from the four in front of him. He only turned half way around when the equivalent of a wrecking ball slammed into his back, knocking the air out of him and lifting him up. As he struggled to comprehend what had happened electricity poured into his body. It was like his body was being vaporized as he felt his nerves lock up. After a moment he slid off Hazels fist and crumpled to the ground.

"Tell Adam to train his men better." Hazel said as he glanced down at Tobias's unmoving form. "Four on one with someone with no aura should not have taken that long. Let's wrap this up."

Yang shouted at Tobias futility as Hazel had rushed up behind him. Somehow Tobias didn't notice Nora and Ren get flung across the room near him and it led to him being thrust into the air, screaming in agony as his body twitched before going silent and dropping to the floor his armor smoking and the smell of slightly burned flesh began to enter the air. The air shimmered around the area Tobias and the four faunus had been. Hazel spoke to the four for a moment before turning towards everyone else. Yang couldn't help but feel dread start to seep into her. Weiss was dying and Ruby was still unconscious and now Tobias was down for the count, Jaune was trying his best for Weiss but as far as she could tell it didn't look good. Yang regrouped with Qrow as Hazel and the White fang started towards them and Mercury and Emerald came from the other side. Nora and Ren finally managed to get back to them as they stood together facing down their opponents.

Tobias finally managed to crack open one of his eyes as he stared at the others making a valiant effort to fight all of them off. There were too many of them and Hazel was practically a one man army. Tobias grunted in frustration as he attempted to do anything but his body refused to listen to him. He couldn't feel anything, just a painful tingle from everywhere on his body. Minutes passed and he was forced to watch them slowly get beaten back where Jaune was nursing Weiss, when that happened Tobias wasn't sure. He didn't know how Hazel had managed to sneak up on him much less miss one of his friends go down. Ruby had finally recovered and rejoined the fight when Tobias finally felt one of his fingers twitch.

Internally groaning Tobias jerkily reached for his communicator he blindly pressed all over the button looking for the activation switch. Finally he managed to press down on the button it expanded and powered on. It took a painfully long time for Tobias to bring the communicator up to where he could actually see the interface. Tobias jerkily scrolled through the interface his misbehaving nerves making it hard to properly sift through his combat supplies. Finally he found the stimulant and activated the communicator. After a moment it appeared in front of him in a small and thankfully unnoticed flash of light. Taking off the cap Tobias grabbed the bottle with his teeth and rolled over, draining the contents. The effect was instantaneous, Tobias felt his muscles stiffen painfully for a moment before relaxing. Groaning in relief he rolled back over and got to his knees, deactivated the communicator and put it back under his armor. "Valkyrie Archangel Greil Come! He said. Griel appeared in all her glory, hovering in front of him with eight beautiful rainbow colored wings that slowly changed colors, long green hair that was put into a massive ponytail and matching eyes her armor was purplish in color but seemed to subtly change as lightning surged around her. Her massive ornate blades continued to crackle with electricity.

"You lead Greil." Tobias said as shouting caught his attention. The dog faunus apparently had heard him and alerted his comrades because the four of them were rushing back. "Let's make this quick."

Greil grinned as she turned towards the faunus. "Prepare yourself sinners! Harming my summoner is the greatest offense possible!" she shouted and flew straight at them. Tobias following closely.

If Tobias could hold his own against the four beforehand, with Greil with him the fight was turned completely around. Greil attacked from angles that were unreachable by normal means. As Tobias pounded away at the wall of light the mace wielder used Greil darted above and came crashing down on top of them, lightning flashing and thunder booming as she struck. Tobias and no blind spots and no openings any counter attacks on Tobias were stopped by Greil and vice versa. He knew when to dodge if one had gotten behind him or when to let an attack through his guard so the man would be punished by Greil. Finally they knocked out the Faunus with the bowie knives, as the other three regrouped they saw the cuts and scratches on Tobias and Greil quickly begin to close up. Grinning at their dismay Tobias readied his blade again when suddenly the room shook. Everyone stopped for a moment as the tremors subsided. A few moments after Tobias felt a incredibly powerful wave of magic pass through the room. Tobias and Greil looked at each other. "If the relic amplifies their power along with whatever hidden magic it might also possess we might not be capable of fighting them off if the show up later… We should go get the relic from them." Greil said.

Tobias looked at the hole where the statue used to be then back to where everyone was fighting. "It's...probably for best." He said before dodging do his side, the faunus's pike flying past his head, Tobias instantly rounded on him and slammed his blade into the man's neck. As he fell Greil finished him off with a quick swipe of her blades, the man's aura giving out. "We should hurry." Greil said.

"Agreed." Tobias said as he positioned himself away from the remaining two Fang members. "We have a bit less than three minutes." He said as the air around him tinged red.

The brawls stopped temporarily as the temperature in the room dropped suddenly causing everyone to glace over at the red tinged air. Yang to perked up, she only knew one thing that was capable of chilling an entire room. She looked over at Tobias, expecting to see Signas standing next to him as well. When she looked at him she had to do a double take, Tobias's hair and eyes had taken on a the same blue color as his tattoo, which was shining slightly now. Around him wisps of water swirled as he stood in the epicenter. Yang couldn't help but think that he looked exactly like the units he called upon to fight in that instance. Pure unadulterated power emanated from Tobias as he stood there, he looked back at them and Yang couldn't help but shudder. The intensity of his gaze was entirely different from anytime before it simply wasn't human. His gaze was crushing like the depths of the ocean they reflected currently. Yang had always viewed Tobias as one of them, despite the crazy summoning that he does Tobias himself was a relatively normal person. He wasn't the biggest he wasn't the smallest, nor was he the most intimidating but he never came across as being meek. He was just as human as she was.

Looking at him now she couldn't find that human aspect he had, she couldn't see the difference between him and the units that could raze buildings in one swing.

Tobias flicked his blade out at one of the remaining fang members, not coming anywhere close to hitting her, the water around him suddenly darted around him forming a liquid blade and crashed into her. The water knocked her back as water sprayed everywhere and before anyone had time to recover Greil and Tobias burst into action. They attacked the two relentlessly, the water surrounding Tobias turning into a blade whenever he struck which gave him extra range on his strikes. The mace wielder made a smart choice and dodged out of the way of an overhead strike from Tobias, his blade bit into the floor with far more strength than expected, the water slamming into the ground cut a deep groove before turning into a puddle. Greil continued to harass and corral them, not giving them space to back away. The man bounced Greil off of his wall and Tobias lunged forward stabbing at it, instead of bouncing off the tip managed to embed itself in the wall much to the shock of the man, water flowed around the blade and shot off the tip piercing it and smashing into the man's face taking out his aura in one blow.

Heavy footsteps and shouts behind him alerted him to Hazel's presence again. Tobias whirled around and put his sword up to block right as Hazel landed his punch. Tobias gritted his teeth as electricity pulsed through him, but it was nowhere near as bad as before. He held Hazel at a standstill as Greil finished off the last Fang member. Hazel let loose a flurry of punches, each one Tobias managed to block and brush off when Greil came flying in, smashing her knee into Hazel's face before spinning and slamming her blades down on him effectively knocking him down for a moment. "The herd has been thinned! We should go!" Greil said continuing forward, nearly knocking over Qrow and Nora who were chasing after Hazel. Tobias ran after her and Emerald attempted to block his path as Greil flew over her head but before she could do anything Ruby hooked her back towards her and Yang silently giving his thanks Tobias bolted past.

Greil flew back to his side and smashed apart a flaming ball of rock that was hurtling towards as they reached the elevator shaft Tobias didn't hesitate, jumping straight in, Greil not far behind as she tucked in her wings slightly and dove after him.

Tobias free fell for three seconds before he felt Greil grab onto him. Greil dove down at a ninety degree angle, going so fast it left Tobias breathless. As they dove down smooth stone gave way to golden grate and a massive cavern was revealed. The cavern was massive, probably able to fit the Vytal festival stadium in it, there wasn't much in it however except for a single bridge and at the end what looked to be a grove of some kind. In the middle of the bridge was the cause of the massive pulse of power Tobias had felt. Two giant balls of fire and lightning collided with each other again and again one was obviously Cinder and the other one was Yang's look alike, Raven.

Greil neared the end of the shaft and pulled up violently, Tobias's boots barely scraping the floor as she went through the opening, leaving Tobias's heart feeling like it had just dropped into his stomach. She set him down and he stumbled for a moment, the two clashing forces of nature hadn't noticed them yet. "Lets go Greil we're out of time!" Tobias said.

Greil grinned and raised her blades above her connecting the tips. "Yes summoner!" she said as she spread them apart, lightning arcing between them.

"Hero King's Sword!" Tobias shouted as he slashed at the flying figures. The water around him whipping around quickly and combining into five massive whirlpools that each flew towards them.

"Angelic Thunder of Asgard!" Greil shouted with him as she slashed her blades downwards, throwing out a large sphere of electricity.

As they traveled together Greil's attack slowly combined itself with Tobias's the lightning arching up and down the raging torrents of water as they careened towards their targets.

Cinder and Raven noticed too late, the whirlpools slammed into them and smashed them into the ground as the rest of the water crushed them against the floor cracking it as lightning caused it to flash and crackle.

"Keep Raven away from me and get them to surrender if possible." Tobias ordered as the two woman began to pick themselves up while coughing up water.

Greil rushed forward, not giving Raven more than an instant to realize someone was in her face, Greil slammed into her stomach and flew forward and up with her, carrying her up to the spiked roof of the cavern.

Tobias marched forward as Cinder got to her feet, her head turned upwards as she watched Greil and Raven ascend. As Tobias got near she looked at him, nothing but pure contempt in her eyes. "Do you really think you can beat me? Without your semblance your nothing!" she hissed at him. "You can't even begin to comprehend the power I have." she said as a fireball appeared in her palm.

"From what i've seem you've only scratched the surface." Tobias said as he charged her.

Cinder threw the ball at Tobias and he batted it aside with ease. Cinder blinked in surprise and almost didn't form a sword fast enough to block his strike, Cinder's arm trembling with effort to keep his blade away. Tobias pushed her blade to the side and swung again, this time Tobias shattered her flaming blade forcing her to back off. Tobias rushed forward as another sword materialized in her hand. Tobias continued to pressure Cinder as he pushed her farther and farther across the bridge the force of the blows creating miniature shock waves as they exchanged blows.

Cinders second sword broke, and she shouted in anger forming another sword with her other hand that was grotesquely deformed and claw like. Tobias looked at it for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "What did you…" he said before ducking underneath the second blade. Cinder attempted to take the offensive, slashing at Tobias as her blades left flaming trails in the air. She went for a cut underneath his arm when Tobias grabbed her arm with his opposite arm, roughly throwing his shoulder into her making her lose balance. Using the opening Tobias swiped his blade across her chest, her aura sparking as the blade cut across it. Continuing the motion Tobias cut skyward as he shouted. "Bliss Clarent! As the blade connected with her water burst into existence, surrounding her and lifting her into the air.

She let out a cry of shock as the sudden geyser dissipated and she slammed back into the ground.

Tobias could see her aura flicker, but it held strong as she got to her knees, she glared up at him, her eye blazing in rage and fire. Tobias felt the effects of his ultimate brave burst wear off, and he could tell from the look in Cinder's eyes that his eyes and hair had finally returned to their normal color, but she seemed to be looking at something else as well. Greil's voice suddenly rang out in his head. ' _On your left summoner.'_ Was all she said and Tobias didn't think or hesitate, he stepped to his right just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike the ground where he had been standing, the force of it shattering the top layer of the stone and scorching the rest.

Not lingering on it Tobias put his attention back onto Cinder. "Surrender, you won't win." Tobias said as he pointed his sword at Cinder's kneeling form. She looked at the scorched earth were the lightning had struck then back at Tobias, her eye twitching before flames instantly surrounded her, circling around quickly as she looked at him with unrestrained fury. "Surrender?!" She snarled. "To a worm like you? Someone who is not even fit to lick my boot! You dare say that to me!" she shouted at him. She then fired a massive stream of flame at him, enveloping him completely. When the stream stopped Tobias uncovered his face to see Cinder rushing right at him with her swords, not expecting the enraged rush he was unable to bring his sword up in time she cut across his armor, as the fiery blades connected the armor hissed and sent Tobias staggering back. Tobias was abruptly jerked back then pulled forward, stopping mere inches away from Cinder's face the blackened hand slowly crushing his windpipe. "Just. What. Are. You." Cinder seethed out as Tobias tried to pry the claw off of his neck. She growled at him and lifted him higher in the air. "Why are you still alive! You have no aura how are you still alive!" she shouted. Tobias gave up on trying to pry her hand off and grabbed his sword with both hands, swinging up as best he could in the awkward position. The blade bit deep into the blackened flesh and Cinder yowled in pain, Tobias felt his neck warm up rapidly before her palm blew out fire, sending him flying. He flew a few feet before sliding on the stone floor and off the edge of the bridge. Shifting his grip on his blade he drove it into the side of the bridge, the metal shrieked harshly on the stone as the blade carved into it. Sparks rained down on him as he finally stopped, leaving him dangling over the seemingly endless abyss. He heard the clicking of Cinders heels grow closer and closer until Cinder was standing over him, savagely grinning as she held a ball of fire. "That is a position more befitting of you." she mocked. "You have the audacity to tell me to surrender? A weakling like you should know your place. You shouldn't have reappeared after Vale. Salem was curious about your semblance and had people look into you but didn't find anything, so we assumed you had died. But after turning back you I think it would be better if you actually did!" Cinder said as she launched a stream of flames straight down at him. After a few seconds the stream abated, Tobias still hanging on as he lifted his head back up to face Cinder, a little pink in the face. Cinder stared down at him in pure disbelief and anger. "How are you still alive…" her voice shaking in rage.

"I told you." Tobias said as pulled himself up so his chest was next to his sword. "When it comes to magic, you are only scratching the surface." Tobias then swung up slightly and pushed off the side of the bridge pulling his blade out of it and free falling into the abyss.

* * *

Raven managed to get off of Greil's blades right before she slammed into the stalactites on the ceiling. She fell for a moment before a sphere of lightning surrounded her as she floated back up. The angel floated down from above, chunks of rocks falling around her. Greil studied her for a moment before flying in rapidly, slashing her blades down in an X pattern. Raven quickly blocked it, but the worn out dust blade instantly shattered on contact, sending fire shards everywhere as Greil's swords hit her chest. Raven felt lightning pulse around her aura as she fell a few feet. Trying not to plummet to the ground Raven righted herself and redrew her sword, this time made of ice dust.

Raven's arms felt like they were made of lead, her arms were shaking from the effort to just hold up her sword and swing it, like her power had sapped away, she gritted her teeth and attempted to stand strong against the angel in front of her.

"Summoner wants you to surrender. If you do this it will make this process far less painful."

"I yield to no one!" Raven shouted back at the angel who simply shrugged.

"If that is your choice…" Greil trailed off, she flapped her wings once and closed the distance between them in a second. Raven's eyes widened as Greil's boot flew towards her face, kicking her in the cheek. Raven struck out with her blade at where Greil had been only to hit nothing but air, suddenly heavy blades slammed into her back, making her lose a few more feet of air. Turning around quickly she shot a bolt of lightning at Greil who simply crossed her blades in front of her as it struck, Greil was pushed back slightly but she brushed it off and rushed at Raven again, darting around and striking from every possible angle, pulses of electricity crashing into her endlessly.

Raven was panting heavily as Greil hovered in front of her, the strength she had felt she had lost had finally returned to her but the damage Greil had done had left its mark. She drew out another blade, this time it was made of lightning dust.

"Difficult isn't it." Greil said with a small smile. "Having to constantly put your magical energy and effort into flying least you fall to you death." She flapped her wings powerfully, slightly buffeting Raven with supercharged air.

Greil charged her again, her strikes aren't nearly as powerful as they were a moment ago but as exhausted as Raven was it didn't really matter as their blades crashed together

Greil felt Tobias's magic flow through her as she upped the intensity of her attacks, She broke blade after blade of Raven's sword the woman looking more and more haggard as Greil refused to let them land. Viciously assaulting Raven until finally a blade made of earth dust managed to get a lucky hit on her, Greil hissed in pain as she disengaged for a moment, as Raven gasped and panted. "You won't defeat me while my summoner gives me strength!" Greil said.

It was obvious Raven was getting desperate, looking for a way out her eyes darted all around as she held a defensive stance with her katana as Greil spoke her eyes snapped to her before glancing down at Tobias and Cinder. "Is that right." Raven said as she turned and sheathed her sword then put both of her hands together, her palms facing out. She fired off a large bolt of blue lightning that crackled and arched down towards Tobias.

Greil watched in in amusement for a second before speaking. ' _On your left summoner.'_

Raven stared in disbelief as Tobias sidestepped the attack he had no idea was coming. Greil speaking dragged her attention to the angel across from her. "You thought I was just going to let you harm my summoner?" she said, narrowing her eyes at Raven. Abruptly Greil stopped laughing and darted in front of her again, spinning around with both swords she shattered the blade of dust again, Raven closed her eyes to prevent the dust shards from flying into them. When she opened them again and realized Greil was gone. She looked all around for her when she felt a fist hit her chin, Greil coming from below with a literal sky uppercut. Sending her flying and flipping into the roof, slamming into the stony ceiling, causing more stalactites to break off. Raven's aura visibly flickered as she slowly floated back down. She shakily drew a new blade made of lightning dust this time and held it in front of her. Greil prepared herself to wrap this up and go help summoner. She flew forward, her blades crackling with electricity. "Lost Ele-" she began to shout.

' _Greil.'_ Tobias's voice rang out in her head, and instantly Greil stopped what she was doing and dove straight down flying and a ninety degree angle as she dove for the bridge, she felt Raven's blade nick her on the thigh as she dove, lighting sparking on contact. Greil was nothing more than a multicolored blur as she flew down, reaching the bridge in an instant, the wind she produced nearly knocking Cinder over as she dove into the chasm.

She finally caught Tobias after he had feel a good twenty feet into the deep darkness, wrapping her arms under his she stopped their descent. "You shouldn't get into the habit of willingly jumping off of things summoner, I doubt its good for your longevity." she said as she looked down, the bottom still unseeable.

"I'll try to work on it." Tobias quipped, a slight grin on his face as he turned up to look at her. Greil rolled her eyes and flapped her wings powerfully, bringing them back up to the bridge in moments. As they got over the lip they saw Cinder looking at them in rage, while Raven slowly descended from above. Once they were safely over the bridge Greil dropped Tobias and turned her attention back to Raven. "No you don't!" she shouted as her lightning arched between her blades and she flew up at her. "Lost Electric Plasma!" Greil shouted as she crossed her blades in an X pattern and flew straight for Raven, her arial supremacy allowing her to smash into her easily and carry her back into the heights of the cavern.

* * *

Tobias slammed his blade onto the ground were Cinder had been standing a moment ago, more rubble flying off the ground. "There isn't a power in this world that can oppose a maiden's magic!" she shouted at Tobias. "You should not be alive!" her voice shaking with rage and hysteria. As she launched another fireball at Tobias. Once again he cut his way through it, the flames leaving no visible marks on his body. Tobias didn't say anything, and Cinder completely lost her composure, a large flaming blade appeared as she held it with both hands and she attacked savagely, Tobias going blow for blow with the flaming greatsword. The force of the fight shaking the air around them. Tobias felt the his buffs leave him again, making it harder to fight back but he managed, refusing to use another brave burst until the right moment.

Raven screamed in pain as Greil trapped her in a sphere of electricity as they flew back up. Greil stopped abruptly, the moment sending Raven flying into the roof. Raven smashed into the stoney ceiling dropped like a rock. Greil roughly caught her by her neck and lifted her up staring her down as she slowly crushed her windpipe. Raven began to struggle, trying to find purchase against Greil's hand as she gasped for breath. "As a human you are born with incredible freedom, every choice you make is your own. Whether you choose to follow another or carve your own path. I wasn't granted that choice until very late in my life...I was born to obey the gods and deliver judgement upon those they deemed villainous, then one day I meet a beast that made me rethink my entire existence. From that point onward, I rebelled against the gods fighting them until my last breath. Yet here even as nothing more than a spirit bound to my summoner I am still far more free than you. I can tell you are being hounded by something, its in your eyes. I don't know why you are here exactly, fighting and working with Cinder but it's obvious your goals do not intertwine." Greil said as Raven slowly started to turn even more pale than she was naturally. Raven mustered up the strength for one last desperate swing and Greil's sword disappeared from her other hand as she caught the blade, lightning sparking as the edge bit into her hand. She clenched her hand around it and snapped the blade in two. Unrelenting in her grip she looked over at the lightning dust blade inspecting it for a moment. She turned back to Raven, who was now turning blue. "I will give you freedom of choice. Either assist me and summoner in order to quickly apprehend Cinder, Or try to continue to fight me...and see how that ends." Greil twirled the shard of sword in her hand as she waited for Raven to make a choice. After a few more seconds of turning blue Raven nodded as best as she could. Instantly Greil released her and caught her by the arm as Raven gasped for air coughing and rubbing her throat.

"Now then." Greil said once Raven was able to support herself again her twin blades reappearing in her hands. "After you." She said pointing down.

Raven grimaced but said nothing, sheathing her handle and drawing out a blade of ice dust. Raven let gravity take over for a moment, dropping her quickly until she was a closer to the bridge, focusing her power again she slowed her descent and landed next to Tobias. Greil watching her closely as she flew in wide circles, following her down.

The flaming greatsword shattered into glass and embers, Tobias pushed through the falling shards and stabbed at Cinder who took the hit, getting sent backwards a few feet. She rolled to her feet quickly right as Raven appeared. Tobias didn't blink as Raven alighted beside him her sword at the ready with Greil behind her. Cinder stood on the other side of the bridge looking just as spent as Raven if not more, she glared at Raven for a moment furious not doing justice to the emotion she currently had on her face. Cinder still had fight in her apparently, she reared back, large flames circled around her. "Get behind me." Tobias said as he stepped forward and in front of Raven and Greil.

Cinder unleashed her largest fireblast yet, towering a good five feet over them and just as wide.

Raven gaped at the raging inferno hurtling towards them, Tobias reared back and slammed his blade down on the fiery flood. As his blade connected it split the stream in two, the heat was searing as the stream flew past. Several seconds passed before the stream finally abated, Tobias staggered for a moment, his sword glowing red hot and armor giving off heat waves. "Go." was all he said. Raven hesitated for a moment, before dashing around Tobias sprinting at Cinder, who was drooping over in exhaustion. Raven's blade flicked out as she dashed past Cinder, the blade cracking across her aura and ice forming along her waist. Cinder let out a gasp as she staggered back, Raven twisted around, flicking her her blade down her back causing more ice to form, with Cinder more or less immobilized Raven noticed Greil flying down the bridge her swords cutting grooves into the bridge and quickly got out of the way. Greil flew up above Cinder, blades raised high in the air, lightning arcing between them and came down on top of Cinder like a bolt of lightning. The ice that was on her body shattering as she was slammed into the ground. "Stay back!" Greil shouted at Raven as she flew straight up.

"Eneoscalibur!" Tobias shouted as he stabbed the ground with his sword. Raven jumped further back as the ground underneath Cinder cracked, through the cracks a geyser sprayed out blowing Cinder skyward. Raven watched Greil dive back down, slamming her blades down on Cinder again forcing her back into the geyser, the water not affecting Greil in the slightest. Greil pushed Cinder through the water causing it to spark repeatedly with bright lights repeatedly until they crashed into the ground. Once they hit the ground the entire bridge rumbled and cracks began to spread. The section of the bridge collapsed on itself, large chunks of stone fell into the abyss, Cinder's body disappearing in the rubble and dust.

Greil landed next to Tobias who looked fine for someone who had just faced down a geyser of fire. "My apologies summoner...I couldn't grab her in time.

Tobias eyed the hole for a moment before speaking. "It's fine, didn't expect the bridge to break on us."

Greil and Tobias both looked over at Raven, who was standing on the other side of the hole leaning over what appeared to be a body.

They slowly walked around the hole, Tobias not dropping his sword. Raven didn't move as they approached. Tobias wasnt sure if she had gotten killed in the crossfire or she had died before everything had happened, she looked relatively unscathed however but without a proper autopsy it was difficult to tell.  
Forcing his eyes away from the body Tobias asked. "Is that what you were going for?" as he gestured towards the tall golden doors at the end of the didn't answer immediately, staring down at the woman. After a few seconds Greil brought her swords up and glared at her Raven looked down at the ground as she answered. "It's the vault where the relic is kept. Only maidens can open the vaults and each maiden is assigned to a different vault."

"So your the maiden of this vault?" Tobias prodded. Raven simply nodded.

"Open it then." Tobias said. Raven's head whipped up to stare at him.  
"Just what do you expect to do with it?" Raven asked.

"Keep it safe, away from Salem." Tobias said.

"I'm supposed to believe you will manage to do that? You don't know what she's capable of." Raven said.

"But I do know what i'm capable of, so its either I take it back with me and give it to Ozpin and the others or it stays in the vault and you disappear, and frankly after what happened here today I don't trust you very much."

Raven locked her jaw stubbornly and looked like she was going to try and run.

"You still have the freedom of choice here, just know that the consequences of your choices will have very different outcomes on your well being." Greil said, as she tightened her grip on her blades, lightning beginning to arc between them again.

They watched Raven's resolve flicker and fade as she let her shoulders slump over. "Fine…"

Greil put her swords down, satisfied and Tobias let out a sigh. They gathered in front of the massive golden door and Raven slowly approached it, she inspected it for a moment before tentatively reaching out for the door. The moment her hand made contact with it the blue vine artwork trailing up the door lit up and the trees began to drop dozens of glowing red leaves that slowly fluttered down the bridge before coming to a rest on the ground of floating into the cavern itself. After a moment there was a loud click that came from the door as it began to open. It opened like a hand fan closed, panels folded up and behind the other as it slowly revealed the doorway. He and Greil blinked in surprise as they looked at each other and back into the open doorway and straight into another world. Before they could inspect any further a sharp bang from down the bridge made them all look backwards.

Yang got to her feet and slowly strode down the bridge as she surveyed the destruction around her. All across the bridge there was rubble lying everywhere, the stone was cracked in multiple places and there were scorch marks in the ground and chunks of it ripped out, the area around her was wet with puddles filling some of the holes. The atmosphere down here was different as well, Yang couldn't exactly describe it but it was simply...intense. She had no doubt from judging the mass destruction around her that if she had been her during the fighting she would have gotten wiped out in a second. As she walked further along the bridge she saw a massive stretch of scorched stone. It was split into two seperate marks before it joined in the middle to create one huge scorch trail that was nearly the size of the bridge itself. She slowly stepped around the collapsed section of the bridge almost half of the bridge broken, water dripping down the sides. She finally stopped a few steps from Raven, staring her down as Tobias and Greil stood beside her.

"What are you doing here." Raven asked harshly.

"I'm here for the relic." Yang snapped back glaring at her.

"You don't know what your getting into." Raven said as she started forward towards Yang.

Instantly Tobias and Greil moved, raising their swords towards Raven causing her to freeze.

"I just...want to talk to her." Raven said as she stared forward.

Yang stared back in surprise at her mother. There was an unreadable emotion in her eyes as she slowly spoke, not looking back at the two at the ready. If she was afraid she hid it very well.

Tobias eyed Raven for a moment before turning back around. He sheathed his sword but his hand left the pommel, Greil turned back as well and they stepped away to give them some privacy.

Tobias kept an eye on the two women as they engaged in a heated conversation and tried his best not to eavesdrop. As the women started to yell at each other Tobias started to pay attention again.

"Standing here shaking like dam child! The only reason you aren't running from me now is because he is here along with that damn...thing!" Raven shouted.

"Even without him I would be here!" Yang yelled back. "You may say that your a survivor and you do what you have to in order to survive but in reality your just scared! So even if im afraid I won't back down, because I have my friends and family with me watching my back as I watch theirs. So your going to give me that relic because if you have it all it's going to do is paint an even bigger target on your back.

Raven faltered for a moment, her shoulder slumped again as she put a hand on Yang's shoulder and spoke lowly. "Whatever he says he is. It's probably a lie, I don't know where he came from but that... _boy_ is not human. Once he gets what he wants don't be surprised when he turns on you.

Yang roughly brushed her arm off and replied in an equally low voice. "At the fall of Beacon he was there fighting for everyone. Then he disappeared." she turned to look over at Raven. "But when we called for help he came back. He didn't know why he called all he knew was that we called. So maybe he's human maybe he isn't, all I know is that he is there for us. His end game is helping us reach ours so ill put my faith in him that he won't betray us."

She strode past her and walked up to Tobias and Greil completely stone faced. Tobias looked into her eyes for a moment and found nothing but resolve, turning towards the door he heard the rapid fluttering of wings. Turning back around he saw Raven was gone, and flying a way was a lone black raven. "Hey! Greil!" Tobias said and she instantly went airborne.

"Wait!" Yang shouted, causing both of them to freeze. "Just...let her go." she said tiredly. "We can get the relic, that's all we really need here."

Tobias slowly turned back around putting the sword back into its sheath. He nodded to Greil and she floated back down to his side.

"Lets go." Yang said striding forward. Tobias put a hand on her shoulder before she could enter the doorway. "Hang on. That's another world so let me make sure there are no traps or the portal won't suddenly collapse since Raven is gone."

Yang nodded and Tobias and Greil stepped into the doorway. The sand gave a soft crunch under their feet slightly as they stood on the other side looking around warily. It was nothing but endless desert it seemed like, but the temperature was tepid, not hot like a desert should be as the odd heatwaves were distorting everything around. Tobias glanced behind him and saw that the door to was still in fact open and he could see Yang standing at the threshold. Seeing nothing out of place he glanced over at Greil who gave him a shrug.

Tobias beckoned Yang through and together they walked the short distance to the first stone platform. Tobias let out a deep breath as he finally took his hand off his sword. He was encompassed in a white light and as it faded he was left in his regular clothes and a raggedy looking sword hilt strapped to his side.

Greil led the way as they walked over to the relic. It was a strange looking thing, it looked like a lamp. Or a teapot without the spout almost with a golden handle attached to a bright glowing blue orb at the base, which constantly seemed to leak out essence of some kind. It hummed with a subtle power and Tobias stared at it warily. The power it leaked was in small almost imperceptible quantities and did not seem immediately dangerous. Looking over at Yang he nodded, giving her the green light as she walked over and picked up the relic.

She stared at it for a few moments before looking back out the door, her eyes tearing up as she quickly turned away from Tobias.

Alarmed Tobias reached out for her. "What's wr-"

"It's nothing…" Yang said tightly. "Its…" she tried to get out before an uncontrollable sob burst out from her.

Tobias didn't say anything as she fell to her knees sobbing. He patted her on the back and backed off to give her some space.

After a minute or two Yang finally recollected herself and joined Tobias back on the bridge. "Were they still fighting when you left?" Tobias asked.

"Yea. We should get up there." Yang replied.

Tobias nodded. "Let's get out of here, Greil come here."

Greil stood in front of Tobias and he put a hand on her shoulder. After a few seconds Greil's form distorted and faded for a moment before reappearing fully. Greil stepped back and flapped her wings, hovering a few feet of the ground. "Get up there and make sure the rest of them are safe. We will be right behind you. Greil nodded and took off, flying down the bridge up the and out of sight in moments.

Tobias started to walk towards the elevator shaft as well with Yang behind him. "What did you do?" She asked curiously. Tobias turned to her, his eyes strangely out of focus, like he wasn't really looking at her. A little trick I learned from Noel, friend of mine." He said as he held up one hand, his thumb and middle finger pressed together after a few more seconds of holding his fingers there he snapped them.

* * *

Ruby was defending herself against Mercury, his close and personal approach to fighting mirroring Yang's in a way and was just as effective in its ability to not let her use her scythe to its full potential. With everyone busy in their own little fights Ruby couldn't buy the time she needed to put space in between them. She still wasn't confident enough to use her newly acquired pistols and not drain the rest of her aura.

Suddenly a scream caught her attention. "The time for judgement is nigh!" and before Ruby could glance at who said it a multicolored meteor smashed in between the two crushing the floor underneath into dust and knocking both of them on their butts. Ruby glanced up at Greil, who seemed even stronger than she was when she was fighting Tobias, brilliant blue green lightning was generated from her wings and it coursed around her entire body. Her sword blurred and it slammed into the spot Mercury had been sitting just a moment ago. Greil looked up at Emerald who was further down, she had let Hazel take over the fighting in order to pull Mercury away with her chainblade. He rubbed his shoulder as he got to his feet.

Greil smiled evilly as she turned to face the two, who instantly reacted getting into a fighting stance. She pointed at Emerald. "Someone you know wants to see you again."

Emerald looked confused as Greil began to walk towards them. "Go help your team Ruby, I will finish this."

Ruby nodded and began to back off, watching Greil as she broke into a sprint at the two. Greil jumped into the air and twisted her body slightly. The movement looked weird on Greil she started her attack from such a far distance away she wasn't going to actually connect. Right before Greil swung down she burst into a bright white light and a blood red scythe came ripping out of it. The scythe was longer than the short swords Greil used and they caught Emerald unprepared as it crashed down on her collarbone knocking her down. As the light faded Elza was standing in place of Greil, her beautiful butterfly wings fluttering behind her as a raw purple essence circled around her like mist and her blades glew with a dark purple energy.

She looked down at Emerald who looked back with fear in her face. "How are your ribs?" She asked before she dodged to the side. Mercury finally recovering from his shock to strike at her, she twirled as she moved, her blades above her head as she finished the spin she struck out, Mercury barely blocking it with his leg. He hopped back in an effort to keep balance, once he had steadied himself he gave Elza a once over. "So this is the chick you trounced you? Not bad…" he said, despite everything he still had his ever present smirk on.

"Don't...do anything stupid Mercury. You won't beat her on your own." Emerald said as she got to her feet.

"Is that right…" Mercury said as he raised his hands up in front of his face in a loose boxer pose.

"I hope you've made your peace." was all Elza said before she rushed the two.

Elza quite literally danced between the two, ducking beneath one of Mercury's kicks she swept his feet out from under him while knocking Emeralds blades aside. Continuing her motion she jumped into the air, twisting rapidly and put the tip of her foot into Emeralds skull knocking her down again and using it as a platform to up off of with the help of her wings as she slammed her blades down onto Mercury's boots. Mercury had his back against the ground as Elza pushed against him, his legs slowly started to give out, as he shouted in exertion.

The sound of stone sliding on stone made the rest of the combatants pause and everyone watched the elevator shaft. Ruby however couldn't help however but have a pretty good feeling about who was coming up that shaft.

Tobias and Yang both appeared on the elevator. Yang was holding a small lamp like item in her hand, Tobias was no long wearing his armor, the sword he was using reverted back to the scrappy hilt he originally came with.

Tobias grinned at everyone and gave a thumbs up as Yang held up the item, Ruby assuming it was the relic. The hidden message behind raising the relic into the air had a great effect on the others in the room. It was like all the fight had left them as they realized Cinder hadn't made it out. Emerald fell to her knees as she stared at the elevator, Elza placed her blades in front of Emerald in an X, hovering dangerously close to her jugular.

Mercury got to his feet as he looked around. Hazel was injured pretty bad, he could keep going with his semblance but Mercury wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. "Em, snap out of it we gotta get out of here." He hissed at her. She stared at him blankly for a moment and Elza spoke from over her.

"Don't try anything, it wont take me long to remove that aura and her head along with it."

Emerald shuddered violently as tears began to pool in her eyes. "This can't be happening…" she said to herself. "It can't it can't it can't!" she began to blubber to herself as she looked back up. "This can't be REAL!" she screamed.

The room went pitch black and Tobias felt a wave of unnatural terror grip him, Completely overriding everyone's composure. Instead of fading away the darkness faded began to pool in the center of the room and grew and grew. He heard various weapons being dropped as the terror intensified the more the blackness took shape, it even affected Elza, she had dropped her blades as she stared at the massive black figure towering over them all.

It was an irrational fear, a fabricated one but it was so potent Tobias couldn't help but cower as it turned into a women with ashen white skin and hair with black veins spreading from her eyes down across her body.

The titan of a woman lunged at them and everyone flinched backwards, covering their face as she shrieked at them. The scream lasted a good ten seconds before it abruptly stopped, leaving a ringing silence in the massive room. Once the screaming had stopped so had the involuntary terror attack. Tobias looked around shakily taking deep breaths to calm himself. He looked around for a moment before he realized Hazel, Mercury, and Emerald were gone and the large door to the Solar was cracked open.

"Elza!" Tobias shouted, shocking her and the others out of their stupor. He ran across the room to the door, "We are not letting them get away! Lets go!" he said. Elza shook her head once before running over to Tobias, as he flung the doors open.

He stepped back in surprise as he was greeted with what looked like a full scale battle between the White Fang and other Faunus. As he stared at the scene in front of him a large air ship floated slowly around the large courtyard with a massive spot light, shining it down on the commotion below. "Elza." Tobias said quickly and the aura surrounding Elza vanished. Her wings fluttering as she peered at the commotion. Tobias gritted his teeth as he realized with the commotion out here and the time they got after whatever that THING was the three of them were probably long gone by now.

Tobias wasn't entirely sure what was going on out there but what he was sure of was the fact that the White Fang were trying to stir up problems again. "Elza, take out the White Fang members, try not to kill them but if they force your hand don't hesitate. If the people without masks try to attack you as well do the same to them."

Elza twirled her scythes once as she strode out into the commotion. "Yes summoner." Tobias closed the doors behind her and jogged back over to the others who were sitting around each other, obviously exhausted. Qrow was laying on his back with one hand over his forehead. He watched Tobias approach, once her was near enough Qrow said. "That was some crazy stuff you pulled, honestly I thought I was drunk when I saw you change colors...thats a new one for me."

Tobias chuckled as he sat on the lowest level of stairs. "I still have some tricks up my sleeve."

"But what was that?" Yang asked.

"It was the Overdrive technique. You've seen it used before."

"We have?" Weiss asked while lying on the ground while Jaune and Ruby checking her for other wounds.

"Yea, back at Beacon when we ran into that demon. Rize used hers im pretty sure."

"So, what happened down there." Qrow asked as he took the relic from Yang.

Yang shrugged and sat beside Tobias. "When I got down there everything was quiet…Tobias would know more than me." When Qrow looked over at him Tobias leaned back. "I'll tell you when we get home. Right now we have some company.

Ruby was about to say something as she got her wounds checked when the doors creaked open again.

Everyone looked over to the door Elza strolled in, leading a group of five people.

They were speaking lowly to themselves but everyone recognized Blake. Standing next to her was the monkey faunus, Tobias couldn't remember his name and another three people around her. Two of them significantly older looking than the others and the woman looking a lot like Blake.

Tobias felt Yang tense up next to him and he gave her a sidelong look, she didn't see it however because she was too busy staring at Blake, an unreadable expression on her face. Tobias looked over at Ruby and Weiss who both had gentle smiles on their faces as they looked at back while Blake's eyes darted between them with apprehension as well as something else. Tobias decided to get out of the way of whatever was going to happen and got to his feet and beckoned Elza over.

"Everything get settled out there?" Tobias asked as Blake neared the group of girls on their knees.

"The police is arresting them as we speak, the White Fang was on the back foot when I got out there."

"Did you see Emerald and the others?" Tobias asked.

Elza shook her head. "I looked everywhere before I ran into Blake."

Tobias let out a sigh and shrugged. "Well, we got more than what we came from and thankfully Cinder is out of the picture. I guess we can chalk this up as a victory."

They walked back over to the rest of the group. Team RWBY sharing a tender group hug as they held each other close, Tobias could hear slight whispers of joy but decided not to intrude. Instead turning to Qrow. "Now what?"

"Well." Qrow said as he looked around. "We have a lot of talkin to do so for now...let's just get back to the house. We'll figure out what to do from there."

* * *

It was a slow shambling journey as they all walked back to the house. Qrow and Ozpin led the way back, discussing the relic and the next steps. Nora, Jaune, Ren, Sun, and the new girl who was named Illia all gave Blake space as she caught up with her old teammates as they walked in the back. The older man and woman walked side by side as they talked to each other. Illia trailed behind everyone slightly still not used to the group. Tobias let out a pained sigh, his fight with Cinder finally taking its toll as he could now really feel the minor burns he got. Or rather they had finally settled in enough to were Tobias could no longer ignore it. A hand softly flitted around his neck and he groaned at the light pressure, the bruises from her chokehold settling nicely as well. He turned slightly to look at Elza who was behind him, her hand still slightly outstretched.

"It should heal quick, it's nothing serious." Tobias said trying to pacify the worry that was hidden deep within her eyes.

"I know that much, you're strong summoner but...it just doesn't feel right to watch you fight and see you get wounded."

"It's in the job description." Tobias shrugged.

"This hardly as anything to do with _your_ job." Elza said and Tobias waved her off dismissively.

Before Elza could say anything else the older faunus woman had stepped up next to them smiling brightly. "I just wanted to thank you for the help you gave us back there!" the woman said smiling brightly. "My name is Kali, Kali Belladonna. Blake's mother." She grabbed Elza's hand with both of hers and shook it enthusiastically. The larger man had also came over to join the conversation. "I am Ghira Belladonna, Blake's father." he said. I appreciate your help out there but I don't believe i've seen you before."

Tobias looked back at Blake. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, Jaune, and Ren all looked at her as well in surprise. Blake blushed at the sudden attention. "I was going to tell you all when we got to the house." she said.

Kali had struck up another conversation, drawing Elza and Tobias's attention away from Blake and the others. "Are you sure we haven't seen her before Ghira? I faintly seeing wings like these before. Im sure of it."

Ghira grunted. "Im sure, I would remember seeing such beautiful wings like these in person." Ghira said before turning to Elza with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry we shouldn't be talking about you like you aren't here."

"It's fine." Elza said. "My name is Elza and no we haven't met before, I have a pretty good memory." she said with a polite smile.

"Weren't you that faunus that saved the Atlas camp back at the fall of Beacon?" Sun said snapping his fingers as he butted into the conversation. "I remember seeing you on TV. You said your name was Elza yea?"

Kali capped her hands together. "Oh I knew I had seen you before! Just not in person!"

Elza opened her mouth to say something before closing it again. "Yes. That was me."

"Well it's an honor to have such a strong huntress help us!" Ghira said with a smile. "How did you know we were there?"

"I was...in the area." Elza said.

"A grand convince indeed." Ghira said. "But once again where are our manners. Who is this young man, is he your…"

Tobias turned slightly to Elza, silently queuing her to answer.

"He's my s… He's my partner." Elza said.

"Significant other?" Kali said with a brilliant smile. "Oh there's no need to worry no one will judge you for your hearts decisions just up and say it!"

Tobias's jaw dropped as he watched Elza turn red. How she did that with no blood flowing in her Tobias wasn't sure but the exact mechanics behind units were nearly a permanent enigma. "No. We are partners." Elza said, her calm voice at odds with her cherry red cheeks.

Tobias slowed his pace to walk next to Elza and Ghira and stuck out his hand. "Tobias, it's nice to meet you."

Ghira shook it, his hand dwarfing Tobias's. "Likewise."

Tobias greeted Kali similarly and she smiled kindly at him. "True partners stick together." She added with a wink.

"I've got a question for you Elza." Illia said, walking closer after silently listening into the conversation.

"Since no one else seems to want to discuss it."

Elza turned slightly to view Illia, the woman had her fist clenched together as she stared intensely at Elza.

"What is it?" Elza said.

"I just want to know why a faunus like yourself would mercilessly kill fellow faunus."

Everyone went silent as their pace slowed to a halt. Elza looked over at Tobias. ' _Just play along as a faunus...until we know we can tell them the truth.'_ Tobias told her.

Elza turned her head to look at Illia. "It was what I was ordered to do. They were trying to kill civilians surely you don't expect me to show mercy do you?"

Illia bit her lip as she glared at her. "Even so you could have incapacitated them. Instead you just slaughtered them! Your own people! I saw you fighting back there, you nearly killed some of the faunus fighting because they had no aura!"

"I follow the orders im given." Elza said coolly.

"Who's orders are so absolute you would kill your own kind with no hesitation!" Illia said.

"Humans kill each other all the time, what makes faunus so different? If you really must know, He gives me the orders." Elza said pointing at Tobias.

Illia's frown grew disgusted as she looked at Tobias. "Why you!" Illia said before stepping forward quickly. Elza positioned herself in front of Tobias, her wings spreading out behind her.

"Illia!" Blake shouted, causing her to freeze where she stood, she locked eyes with Elza whose glinted dangerously. "Come here please… it's important." Blake beckoned her over.

Illia reluctantly walked back to where Blake was standing. "What." Illia whispered harshly.

"This isn't the time to bring this stuff up, plus she isn't someone you want to start anything with." Blake whispered back seriously. "I don't know her personally but i'm pretty acquainted with Tobias, but please don't start any fights. We're on the same side now,

"You expect me to just accept the fact that she killed people I knew! Just cut them down? She's a faunus too she should know what it's like, I don't know what that human has on her or what kind of relationship but she should see the way we are treated, how she must have been treated!" Illia said.

"It's not my place to say…" Blake said. "But please, don't start anything. Besides in a way she's right. Faunus kill faunus just like humans kill humans. It just depends on what side they are, I know its a horrible way to think but that's just how it is."

Illia looked back at Elza, who was staring right back emotionlessly, from this distance it almost looked like her red eyes were glowing.

There was a long moment of silence before Illia finally began to walk again. "Fine...but don't expect me to work with her on anything.

"That's fine." Blake said.

With the situation successfully defused everyone began to walk again, albeit in a rather awkward silence.

"What was that about?" Tobias whispered to Elza.

"What?" She asked, staring forward.

"Since when did you get embarrassed?" Tobias questioned.

"It's human nature to be embarrassed in those kinds of situations is it not?" Elza said sidestepping the question.

Tobias let out an amused hum. "I knew I would grow on you eventually."

"I suppose." Elza said. "Still I prefer my men more….Barurian. That and i'm sure Tilith wouldn't appreciate me encroaching."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." Elza said, allowing a small smile to grace her face."

Tobias made a face at Elza and let the conversation drop. "Oh.." Tobias said.

Elza looked over. "What?"

"Speaking of Tilith I should probably call her when we get to the house."

"If I remember correctly she did threaten to take action of some kind." Elza said as they walked on.

Everyone made their way into the house, each person claiming their own little spaces in the living room. The now reunited team RWBY sat on the floor, still soaking up each others presence. Nora Ren and Jaune all claimed one end of the couch as Ghira and Kali sat on the other end and Sun and Illia stood behind it.. Qrow and Oscar took the remaining chairs while Tobias and Elza walked to the far side of the room.

"Well…" Qrow said looking around. "I think tomorrow is a good day for debriefing...sooo...Drinks?" he said while lifting up his flask. Everyone just stared at him silently causing him to put the flask away with a sigh. "Fine fine… But we SHOULD celebrate, thats all im saying. It's not everyday you get out of an ambush like that relatively unscathed."

"Perhaps some tea." Kali said standing up. "It is rather late...or should I say early."

Everyone murmured in agreement at the suggestion and Kali smiled. "I'll go get some tea then, Could someone show me where the tea kit is?"

"It's this way." Ren said, leading Kali into the kitchen.

"I'll be back." Tobias said. Excusing himself from the room he went upstairs, Elza following behind.

"Blake i'm so glad you're alright!" Ruby said with a smile. "Those are your parents? Where did they live?"

As Weiss covered Ruby's mouth to prevent her from endlessly spewing questions Blake let out a quiet chuckle. "I went back home to Menagerie. When I got there we found out that the White Fang were making a move against my dad because he was the old leader of the White Fang.

"Wait." Weiss cut in. "YOUR dad was the leader of the White Fang?"

"Indeed I was."Ghira's deep voice rumbled over them. "I don't believe we've been introduced. What are your names?" he asked with a smile.

"Im Ruby Rose!" Ruby said standing up and shaking his hands. "Blake's teammate and leader of team RWBY!"

"So young...you must be quite impressive." Ghira said as he looked down at her approvingly.

"You know it!" Ruby said, making karate chop gestures in the air

"Im Yang Xiao Long. Ruby's sister and...Blake's teammate and partner." Yang said after a moment of hesitation.

Ghira clapped his hand on Yang's shoulder causing her to stagger in surprise under the weight and unintentional force. "I know how dangerous those huntress schools are. I want to give my thanks for keeping my daughter safe."

"Its uhh...No problem sir. It's what I do." Yang said.

As Ghira towered Weiss it was obvious that the polite upbringing that was drilled into her from a young age was the only thing keeping her from bolting right then and there. "Ghira." he said as he stuck out his hand. "You're Weiss Schnee correct?"

"C-correct." Weiss said nervously as she placed her hand into Ghira's the difference in size was ridiculous. "Weiss Schnee, Blake's teammate."

"I was wondering what the heiress was doing all the way in Haven. You're on Blake's team as well?" Ghira let out a laugh. "Well i'm glad Blake has made such wonderful friends, she talked about you a lot while we were at home. It's a honor to meet you all."

"D-dad!" Blake said as she blushed. "You can't just blurt things out like that!" causing everyone to laugh at the usually stoic and impassive Blake.

Kali and Ren finally returned with the tea and everyone gathered around the table as best they could.

Yang felt an arm around her shoulder and she looked up to see Sun grinning at her. "I think Mr.B likes you more than he likes me! Oh man you shoulda seen him grumbling at the table while we were eating."

Yang let out a chuckle at Sun. "I guess your happy go lucky attitude doesn't work with everyone huh?"

"Guess not." Sun said. "Oh! That reminds me you guys wanna hear about when Blake and I took out Feilong?"

Ruby let out a gasp. "Really? Oh gosh how big was it?"

"Pshh, easily like a hundred feet." Sun said, obviously stretching the truth but Ruby ate it up anyway.

"Ohh that so cool! Could it do anything?" Ruby asked.

"Well, it shot lightning at us and the ship. Although I totally batted away a bolt. It was pretty cool if I say so myself." Sun boasted as he rubbed his knuckles against his shirt as if he was polishing them.

"It was cool until I had to come catch you like a damsel in distress." Blake interjected, smirking at him.

Yang's smile slowly became more and more subdued the more Blake and Sun talked, recounting their adventures and eventually it dragged Ruby Jaune Ren and Nora into telling their stories.

Having heard it before Yang used this moment to get out, and start walking out of the room.

"Yang?" Blake called out softly causing her to freeze in her tracks. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, im fine…" Yang said not turning around. "Just tired so I was going to go to bed. Helping Tobias fight was pretty exhausting, Cinder and Raven were no joke." she said as she made her way for the stairs.

"I thought you said the fight was over when you got down there?" Ruby said in confusion. Yang cursed to herself. "It basically was, he was wrapping up the fight when I got down there and I just jumped in." Yang said as she continued for the stairs. "I'll see you guys in the morning." she said looking back and waving.

As everyone else said goodnight a loud thumping brought her attention back to the stairs in confusion. Tobias came flying down the stairs bowling over Yang and tripping over her. Yang let out a surprised yelp as they went down in a loud crash. "Whoa there! What's got you in a rush?" Qrow asked as Elza helped Tobias untangle himself. "I gotta go find her, she left that message hours ago." was all Tobias said before continuing for the door, his hand already hovering the pommel of his sword.

"Whoa, okay hang on for a moment Tobias." Oscar said. "Who are you talking about?"

"Tilith sent a message hours ago!" Tobias said continuing to the door. Ruby got to her feet the name sounded familiar but Ruby couldn't remember why. "Do you want our help?"

Tobias shook his head. "No this isn't something you can help me with." Tobias said. "Shes-." Tobias cut himself off as he whipped his neck around towards the kitchen turning it so fast Ruby was afraid he might of hurt it. Elza had done the same thing and the sound of glass cracking filled the silent room.

There was a pregnant pause before the sound of hundreds of glass bottles shattering filled the other room.

As suddenly as the noise stopped a new noise started. Rapid footsteps began to make their way towards the door accompanied by a shouting angelic voice. "Tobias! I warned you! I said keep in touch or ill come find you! I know your here come out you are in so much trouble!"

Yang propped herself up as she watched all the tension bleed out of Tobias's form. "Tilith! I'm in here!"

"It's good you know running is useless!" The voice said again as the woman stepped out from behind the kitchen wall.

The best way to describe the person who had just shown up was simply, a goddess in human form. She was incredibly beautiful. She stood just a little taller than Ruby and wore a short skirt that had a primarily green color but also had shades of pink, light purple, and aquamarine mixed into the pattern with tight black pants underneath. Her shirt was green on her sides with an all white middle. Dangling over her chest was a familiar looking cross, Yang realized it was the same tattoo that Tobias had on his shoulder. She also wore two bracelets on her right arm and another single bracelet on her left. Her hair was probably the most eye catching part about her however, quite literally a rainbow gradient that started a light blue at the top and slowly changed to a darker blue, then a lighter blue, then a light green then a darkish purple and pink on the tips. Her pure sky blue eyes locked on to Tobias and they stared at each other for a moment before she burst into action. Jumping forward and slamming into Tobias wrapping her arms around him and causing him to fall backwards with an oof.

"Tobias I missed you so much! You can't leave for that long ever again! This time I definitely won't allow it!" she said, sounding close to tears as she rubbed her face in Tobias's chest.

"I'm glad to see you to Tilith." Tobias said as he wrapped his arms around her as well. For a while they just laid their talking lowly to each other wrapped in each others embrace before Tobias seemed to remember that they were not alone.

Slowly Tobias maneuvered Tilith over so he could actually stand up with Tilith maintaining her grip on him as if he was going to try to bolt the moment he got a chance.

Tobias let out a pained hiss as she adjusted her grip on him. "What's wrong?" Tilith said as she looked at Tobias closely. Tobias opened his mouth but Tilith spoke first. "Your hurt! Oh gods what happened?!" she said as she began to fret over him, even lifting up his shirt and exposing his stomach. Tobias yelped he felt her hand run over his stomach looking for injuries. "Its fine, its just some minor burns Tilith.

"I'm in no condition to heal you like this. Even if it's just minor stuff! What if it manages to scar! Come on, using the gate so much left me exhausted... lets go to bed and in the morning i'll heal you right up!"

"Wh-Tilith wait hang on!" Tobias said but Tilith wasn't listening as she dragged him upstairs despite his protest.

"Well...that was something." Jaune said as they stared at the now empty stairwell. Everyone looked at Elza for an explanation but only got a shoulder shrug in return. Elza made her way across the room and poured herself a cup of tea. She then took a seat on the couch. "It's better to let her get it out of her system now." Elza said as she took a sip.

"Well she certainly seems lively." Kali said. "Does anyone want anymore tea? We have plenty, and perhaps I could find some crackers or something to go with it?"

"That sounds great mom." Blake said as everyone settled around the table again, eager to pass around more stories.


	34. Chapter 34

**Finally managed to get this out jeez sorry about the wait. If anyone thinks this story is canceled don't rush to conclusions. I will post a notice informing you if it has or not. For now, however, we will continue, If I didn't get distracted every time I sat down at my computer these would probably come out faster but hey you gotta live life. That aside please enjoy the story.**

Chapter 12: Blazing Blondes

Yang tossed and turned restlessly for the umpteenth time this night. She was grateful she was still able to sleep by herself, with the extra people some sleeping arrangements had to be changed. Ruby and Weiss decided to share a room to make space for Ghira and Kali to sleep together, Qrow and Oscar still got their own rooms and Ren, Nora, and Jaune decided to bunk together as well giving Blake the last room. Illia and Sun had been fine taking the couch. Tobias and Tilith obviously, we're sharing a room as well. Which for better or for worse left Yang to stew in her emotions by herself. She was still in disbelief that Blake was here, in the house not even ten seconds away from her. Yang couldn't fathom why Ruby and Weiss were so quick to forgive but then again Blake didn't necessarily leave them in their times of need. Yang groaned in dismay as she finally accepted she wasn't going to get any sleep, at least not now. She got up and put on some simple short gym shorts and a small t-shirt. She quietly padded out into the quiet dark hallway not really know what to do with herself. She paced around the house for a while before looking at the back door, an idea forming in her head. She walked back down the hallway and stopped in front of Tobias's door. She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, and silently opening the door. One of the two had thrown open the blinds to the windows illuminating the room in gentle moonlight. Yang blushed slightly as she bore witness to a rather intimate scene. Innocent but still intimate, Tobias was on his back snoring slightly while Tilith slept on his bare chest. Thankfully they were both mostly clothed, Tilith in silken pajamas and Tobias wearing cotton pants. Yang quietly walked over to Tobias's side, as Yang looked at him she had to admit Ruby was right, he definitely wasn't the same Tobias they knew she confirmed as she saw his lean and chiseled chest, alongside the brutal scar on his chest. It was also obvious to Yang that Tobias was obviously worse off than he had lead everyone to believe, even in the moonlight she could see light burns all over his body and the bruising on his throat had gotten even worse.

Swallowing slightly she whispered. "Tobias." After a few seconds of no response, she whispered a little louder. "Tobias!" this time Tilith murmured slightly, Yang not wanting to wake her up kept quiet. She shook Tobias lightly. This time his eyes flew wide open, grabbing Yang's hand and bending it painfully as he looked up at her blearily.

Grimacing in pain she got out. "Tobias! Tobias, it's me! stop!" she said in a harsh whisper.

His eyes finally focused on hers and he released his grip, letting out a sigh. "Don't DO that. You scared the hell out of me good gods." he groaned.

Yang gingerly rubbed her hand. "Sorry… I didn't think you would attack me."

"Sorry...just worried that Emerald and the others might try something since they got away...I doubt it but.." he trailed off as he looked over at Tilith. "Anyway... did you need something?"

"I uh...can't sleep," Yang said.

Tobias simply blinked sleepily at her. "And you want me to…?"

"I wanted to see if I could burn off some energy doing some exercise." Yang said.

Tobias looked at her for a moment before sighing. "Just..don't make too much noise, everyone is trying to sleep.," he said before turning over and putting his face into his pillow he then gently raised his hand and covered Tiliths closed eyes and mumbled into the pillow.

The room lit up briefly, effectively destroying any night vision she had. As Yang was rubbing the spots of out her eyes she heard someone, definitely a female, scoff. It was a haughty scoff, the kind that Weiss made in class when someone got a supposedly "easy" question wrong. She then felt a hand grab her own and begin to pull her out of the room. The person led Yang back down the stairs and into the backyard, the pleasant night air not too cold, perfect for shorts and a tank top. Yang finally managed to rub the spots of lights out of her eyes and could properly see now. When her vision finally cleared the only thing she could really see was a silver and gold crown like thing atop blonde hair. Blinking she looked down at the woman who was maybe a little taller than the ice cream girl she fought all those months ago. She was frowning up at her. Yang couldn't help but feel off-put by her gaze, it seemed like she was looking through her, not at her. Not knowing what else to do Yang decided to just introduce herself. "Name's Yang, it's nice to meet you."

"Michele." was all she said.

"So… umm… what do we do?" Yang asked, unsure how to start a conversation with the woman.

"You woke my summoner up from his much-needed rest and you don't even know what you want to do?" She asked incredulously. Yang opened her mouth before closing it. "Well umm."

Michele scoffed again, stepping a few paces back before holding her palms out in front of her. "Come on then."

Yang, understanding what she was insinuating she squared up with her and began to lightly tap her palms with her fist. After a few jabs, Michele began to move her hands around and slap her fist away. The easy motions allowed Yang to forget about her woes. This continued for a while, Michele looking bored as she continued to slap away her hands. They continued this cathartic process for a while until Michele's eyes darted behind her suddenly stopped her hands. Yang, who had been tracking the path of her hand continued for its assumed destination and flew straight past her hands and lightly tapped her nose.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Michele brushed her fist away from her face. "I'm fine." she said, not tearing her glare away from behind her.

Yang turned around as well and looked behind her and nearly jolted out of her skin as all she saw were two slightly shining golden eyes looking back at them.

"B-Blake!" Yang said as she put her hand over her chest. "How did you know we were out here?"

"I could hear you walking around earlier...you really haven't gotten any better at sneaking around." Blake said quietly while twitching her ears. She looked unsure about something as she stared at Yang with a slight frown on her face.

Yang let out a forced chuckle, turning around to fully look at Blake. "I'll keep that in mind and keep practicing for sure!" An awkward silence filled the air as Yang and Blake stared at each other. "Well uh...sorry for waking you, I'm just gonna keep doing...this…" Yang trailed off as she started to turn back around.

"Yang...can we talk?" Blake asked imploringly, taking a step out of the door revealing the rest of her body clad in a kimono.

"Ah…" Yang muttered as she turned slightly towards Blake. Neither noticed the slowly growing light behind Yang.

"Talk about what?" Yang said as she smiled at Blake.

"About...What happened." Blake said lowly, her ears drooping on her head.

Yang swallowed the ball that had been slowly growing in her throat ever since Blake had shown up. "I...think that's a conversation...best left for when we are feeling refreshed," Yang said, unwilling to try this conversation now.

"I…" Blake trailed off. She stood there silently for a moment before speaking up again. "Well...I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep, do you want to...hang out? Catch up or spar?"

Yang opened her mouth to reply when she felt a hard tap on her shoulder. Yang turned around and was pushed lightly to the side as Michele brushed past her flickers of flames floating around her. "You can't take hints very well can you?"

"I-i'm sorry?" Blake said as she looked over at Michele.

Michele's scowled as she marched up to Blake poking her hard in the shoulder as she emphasized each word. "Your. Presence. Is. Not. Welcome. Here. Right. Now."

Blake took a step back and opened her mouth but Michele cut her off again. "I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with a coward like you right now. So go back to bed and let her think in peace."

Blake felt her blood boil as the woman continued the glare up at her. It was one thing to admit that she was a coward, but to be called out as one by someone she didn't know was insanely insulting and something she was not going to take lying down.

"You've got no right to be calling me a coward!" Blake said as she stood over her. "Who do you think you are and what would you even know about me!"

"I was filled in at what happened after Beacon was attacked the moment Summoner was you, idiot!" Michele said.

"Hey Michele come on quit it there's no need to be rude!" Yang said as she hurriedly put her hand on Michele's shoulder.

"You stay out of this!" Michele said harshly to Yang as she pushed her back. "You have a lot of nerve to disturb my summoner then force me to come out here and then try to run off because she showed up."

"I am not trying to run off!" Yang said indignantly.

"Oh? Then what were you going to do? Cause I think you're just going to run off to your room and pretend you're asleep."

"I-." Yang said.

"Save it." Michele brushed her off. And turned back to Blake. "You wanna know why I can call you a coward? Because you are! My summoner has his opinions and I have mine and frankly, you're not much better than Lodin and the others. Do you wanna know what I did? My comrades and I fought the Ten Winged Tormentor. When we thought we had finally destroyed him the gods revived him right in front of our eyes. It was scary, but I was ready to beat him down again with my comrades but you know what? They all broke down around me, cowering and shutting down. So I fought him myself, He knocked me down at beat me over and over but not once did I give up or give in to fear. So that's why I am going to call you a coward. Cause I know cowards when I see them!" Michele seemed to remember something at that point in time and got even more in her face.

Blake's ears were flat on top of her head as Michele continued to rebuke her. She wanted to say something but couldn't help but feel small as Michele stood in front of her towering over her in every way except physical.

"Hey I said stop Michele, Stop talking to her like that," Yang said angrily.

"So, I'm not going to repeat myself another time," Michele said, almost shouted at Blake. "You are not welcome here right now so why don't you act like the pussycat you are and run off!"

The sound of Ember Celica going off ripped through the quiet night air as Blake stared in shock at Yang's metal first embedded in Michele's cheek, her face was pushed to the side and all Blake could see was one furious red eye. "I said. DO NOT talk to Blake that way." Yang snarled out, her eyes just as red as Michele's. "If you think I'll let you say whatever you want you got another thing coming."

Michele turned her head with nothing but her head, her arms to her sides clenched into a fist. She stopped once she was facing Blake but her eyes were looking at Yang. "Oh so now you want to be a guardian now huh? You need to get yourself sorted out, Do you or don't you want to be near her." Michele barked at Yang.

Yang's form wavered and instantly Michele moved her arm out of the way and slugged her in the solar plexus. Yang's mouth both performed an uncanny mimicry of a fish as she fell to her knees. Michele grabbed her back the back of her shirt and dragged her to the edge of the cliff, Blake shouting at her from behind. Michele gave Blake a death glare that caused her to freeze up and she snorted and shook her head in disappointment. "Like I said, you aren't needed right now. And if you meddle with her again tonight I'll bury you up to your neck."

Michele then readjusted her grip on Yang and grunted as she began to spin, after a few revolutions she released Yang from her grip, sending her flying high out over the edge. Blake screamed and ran forward but Michele pushed her back, as Blake fell on her butt Michele suddenly had a large war axe in one hand and an even larger gatling gun in the other. The gun instantly spewed flames and roared in the night as Michele used it to boost herself into the air, much like Ruby. Within seconds she was nothing more than a flaming comet in the night sky as she collided with Yang and they disappeared into the forest.

* * *

Tobias groaned as he opened one eye, gazing out the window in irritation as the sound of high caliber gunfire finally faded away. "I told her to keep it quiet…" he said to himself as Tilith stirred next to him. He stayed silent, hoping she would just fall back asleep. Traveling as far as he did by herself was no doubt more exhausting than anything he had done recently. He closed his eyes again, resolving to punish Michele in the morning.

* * *

Yang hit the ground hard, tumbling and sliding through the dirt and brush a good distance before she finally rolled to a stop. She let out a groan still clutching her stomach in pain. Her aura hadn't really kicked in until after Michele had caught her by surprise by slugging her. She faintly registered the crunching of branches behind her and rolled over to look at Michele. When she opened her eyes however she didn't see any trace of the flaming girl anywhere. Confused Yang pushed herself to her knees and peered into the dark forest, the cracking of branches still growing closer and closer. Yang turned her head from side to side trying to find the source of the cracking in the blackness of the forest. After a few more seconds the cracking stopped altogether and Yang felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as a quiet growl came from somewhere to her left. She looked around warily now, unable to see the creature in the dark when suddenly twigs and shrugs started to shake violently from her left, Yang turned as fast as she could to already see the demonic glowing eyes of a beowolf lunging at her. She tried to raise her hands in front to guard but it was unnecessary. A giant woosh flew past her ear as a large war axe embedded itself into the creature's skull and it simply flew limply into her and felt to the ground dead. The axe vanished in a flash of light and Yang turned in the direction it came from. Michele was strutting her way towards Yang, her empty hand glowing for a second before the blazing axe reappeared in it. "I really hate interruptions," she growled out as she finally stood next to Yang kicking the dissipating corpse away. She turned towards Yang. "What good is a protector who can't even protect themselves. You have the gall to try to stand up for others but you fall short when it comes to yourself."

"I can defend myself just fine!" Yang protested.

"Against weaklings! Your semblance is just an excuse for you to take needless hits and frankly it's not if you want to actually defend your friends then you're going to have to change. Better yourself to not just affect you but the people trying to harm your friends. If you can't do that then you're useless!" Michele shouted at her

A howl cut through the forest, causing both of them to look around in the darkness. Slowly but surely the red eyes of the beowolves slowly filled the area around them. Michele and Yang looked around Michele more so in irritation than anything.

"Your semblance much like your weapons are apart of you, if you are going to get anywhere you need to make yourself better." Michele continued to shout at her as if nothing was going on around her.

"That's why I'm training isn't it? To make myself stronger." Yang said as she looked around and the growing pack.

"Physically! What you need is to get better spiritually, improve yourself and reach new heights using your soul. You don't have magic like me but you do have a form of magic and the better you get at using it the stronger you will be."

The first beowolf jumped out, aiming for Michele who jumped back slightly and shoved the barrel of her gun down its gaping maw. The gun fired once and the beowolf's head ceased to exist as it fell to the side smoldering. She brought the gun up and fired into the darkness closest to her, scything through trees and shrubs alike as she blasted and burned the beowolves unlucky enough to get caught in the path.

"I'm going to push you to your limit out here. Prove that you can protect yourself so you can protect others otherwise what you've been doing is nothing more than a waste of time!" Michele said as she suddenly rushed Yang and slammed the blunt side of her axe into her chest, launching her through the forest.

Yang slammed into something fleshy, she looked up and saw the glowing red of a Grimm's staring back down at her. Gasping she quickly rolled out of the way as it snapped down at her and punched out with her metal arm, firing off another shot to ensure its demise. "What is wrong with you!" Yang shouted angrily. "We're surrounded by Grimm why would you attack me!"

"And whose fault do you think that is!" Michele shouted back as her gatling gun fired again launching her in front of Yang in all her glory, her axe now blazing with a blue flame and flaming wings on her back. Fire and blazing pink petals also swirled around her, controlled by some invisible gravitational field around her. If felt she was watching in slow motion as Michele twisted in mid-air, swinging the blazing axe at her. Yang ducked under it and punched her in the jaw. "I'm telling you to stop it!" Yang shouted at her, she could feel a burning deep in her chest as Michele continued to antagonize and berate her.

"Make me! With all your dam brooding you probably attracted most of them here anyway now you have to deal with all of it!" Michele said as she turned around quickly, two more beowolves were rushing her

Her gatling gun disappeared in a burst of light, and it was replaced by another axe that was identical to her first one, in an instant Michele drove one into the skull of the closest beowolf and pulled herself over it, striking at the other with a blazing slash. Leaving a deep wound on its front right leg the beast howling in pain as Michele wrenched her axe out of the carcass of its other wolf and swiftly executed the injured one. With Michele lighting the clearing with her presence Yang looked around to see how many beowolves there actually were. From what she could see in the light there were at least ten in the immediate vicinity. The wolves seemed hesitant, prowling on the edge of the light cast by Michele and honestly, Yang couldn't blame them. The erratic fighting and instant obliteration of their brethren would be enough to make anything hesitate to try as well. Hesitate was all they did, however, having humans this close was just too good of a chance for the Grimm to pass up as one lunged for Yang. She dodged to the side as it flew past and unloaded a slug straight into its hindquarter as it passed by, effectively crippling it. Before she could finish it off another one charged her, catching her on her wrist, without her gauntlet Yang was forced to make her aura bear the brunt of the attack as she punched the wolf over and over on the snout. Finally dislodging it as she slammed it into a tree, causing it to begin to dissipate. As she turned to see where the rest of the pack she had to quickly drop to her stomach as Michele's axe cut through the air she was just standing in, cleaving the tree in two effortlessly. Yang got to her feet just in time to jump back from the axe slamming into the ground.

Michele pressed her attack, swinging in intricate combos as Yang struggled to dodge, the one time she attempted to block the blow Michele had almost removed her metal arm. One of Michele's axes disappeared and was replaced by the gatling gun once again and Michele instantly fired into the ground, causing flames to spew out and Yang fell down at the unexpected move. Michele rode the momentum into the air stopped firing, as she dropped she brought her axe down like a guillotine narrowly missing Yang.

Yang screamed in rage as the feeling in her chest intensified. It wasn't her semblance but at the same time, it was as she charged Michele, frustrated and furious at the girl. By the time Michele stood up straight Yang drove her fist into her stomach causing her to double over in surprise. Yang instantly unloaded slug after slug straight into Michele's stomach before she reared back with her other fist and punched her as hard as she could, sending her tumbling.

Michele got back up without a problem, seemingly unfazed by Yang's attacks, as Michele smirked Yang could feel the ball of fire in her chest get hotter. "You can feel it can't you? I can see it in your eyes. Are you frustrated that you are weak? Frustrated that you can't understand your own feelings? Come on embrace that feeling, release it! It's not Elemental Manipulation 500 this is you! Show me what you're made of weakling!" Michele shouted at her behind using the gun to launch herself forward. She slid under Yang's swing and cut through one of the remaining beowolves legs. She let go of her axe and grabbed onto the beowolf, throwing it back at Yang. It slammed into her snapping and growling and Yang quickly finished it off.

"I'm sick of you!" Yang shouted at Michele as her hair lit up, wisps of flames coming off her body.

"Let's see how far your semblance will get you. Charge at me recklessly I dare you." Michele said.

Yang grit her teeth. She could tell Michele knew she was spent. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment trying to feel whatever the hell she was talking about through her anger. She could feel her frustration and rage at this irritating woman, frustration at Ozpin, Qrow, Raven, Blake….

She opened her eyes and saw Michele swiftly decapitating a beowolf before looking back at her. "Well?" she said condescendingly.

Yang's eye twitched, she closed her eyes again and visualized that frustration, the drive to get stronger and grow as a person and took hold of it.

Michele charged her again, swinging for her stomach, Yang sidestepped it and grabbed her arm, and forcing her to drop her axe. Yang swiftly kicked out the back of her leg, forcing her to the ground. She was there for maybe a second before she laughed. "Is that all you got? You better borrow some of my strength then!" Michele shouted as she burst out of Yang's hold she grabbed ahold of Yang's arm and tossed her like a sack of potatoes.

Yang struggled to her feet breathing heavily as she stared down Michele she could feel herself hit the boiling point, Yang slammed her fist together and dug deep as she called out her semblance, enhancing it with that seething ball in her chest. She needed strength but not at the cost of gaining it from taking hits no matter how powered up it made her. That ball seemed to know what she meant and responded. Flames burst around her immediate area and there was a space of at least five feet around her that was encompassed in a glowing aura. She heard a yelp from behind her and saw the last beowolf caught in the aura, burning skin wafting into the air as it cried out in pain. The longer the wolf stayed in the aura the stronger Yang felt, not thinking about it however she quickly executed the beowolf.

Now safely out of danger of Grimm Yang turned her attention to Michele, who was regarding her coolly. She didn't look impressed, but she looked slightly intrigued. "Hmp...it's a start I suppose. Almost like a tiny little matchstick, I suppose but I suppose we all have to start somewhere." Yang began to march up to Michele. She was still furious but she felt far more in control than she ever has whenever she let loose.

Michele kept a neutral expression as Yang stood in front of her if the fiery aura that seemed to hurt the beowolf hurt her she didn't show it.

"Awful bold you. Thinking your little light show is enough to intimidate me." Michele said dangerously. Michele opened her mouth again but paused, looking Yang up and down for a moment before glancing at her own hands. Yang decided to throw the first punch, her fist blurring past Michele's face as she moved slightly. Her first colliding with the tree behind her blowing out half of the trunk without Ember Celica being fired. Michele took a moment to glance at the tree with an eyebrow raised before her gaze turned piercing and she turned back to Yang. Her sudden refusal to talk or fight irritated Yang even more as she began to throw vicious combinations of punches and kicks at her. Michele stayed silent, never leaving the sphere around Yang but never striking back. Suddenly her piercing gaze disappeared and she ducked under Yang's punch, spinning around and lightly kicked her away.

Yang stumbled for a moment before turning to see Michele looking at her own hands in interest. "About half of my strength huh? Still not enough to put you on par but at least you'll fair a bit better." She said mostly to herself. "Now then." She said as her hands shone and her axes re-appeared. "It's a start but it's definitely something new."

Yang lunged at her again and this time Michele blocked the punch with the flat of her blade. She let out a huff. "Now that's what I call an improvement. Quiet the dangerous semblance you have there."

Yang ignored what she was saying in favor of trying to knock her lights out as she kept up her assault. Michele finally went on the offensive and swung at Yang's waist. Reacting purely on instinct she pushed at the flat of the blade, causing Michele to drop the axe.

Michele jumped back before Yang could follow up. "Well, at least it came more or less naturally. I can tell cause it's obvious you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? I can see it in your eyes. All scrunched up in anger it's kinda cute really." Michele said mockingly.

"I'm going to teach you what happens when someone keeps talkin down to me!" Yang shouted at her, flames re-enveloping the area.

Michele merely laughed at her and burst into flames as well.

The next few minutes passed by in a red and fiery blur for Yang, Michele had stopped holding back and each swing of her axe brought a firestorm with it. Yang didn't back down however and continued to fight through the flames, countering with her own fiery strikes. The longer Yang stayed in Michele's face the stronger she felt she was getting, she had stopped going from being barely able to defend against her strikes to actually someone going blow for blow with her. Their respective auras burned and charred and burned the surrounding trees and brushes, both of them also responsible for carving out chunks of earth and tree with their strikes.

Michele's eyes widened in shock as Yang caught her wrist mid-swing, slowly forcing her to stop. Not hesitating Yang drove her fist into Michele's gut as hard as possible, lifting her into the air slightly and causing her to gasp out in pain. The woosh of air she let out one of the most beautiful sounds in the world to Yang. Yang whipped her fist around again in a left hook catching Michele right on the cheek, throwing her head to the side. Before she could swing again the axe in Michele's free hand was replaced by the gatling gun, which quickly whirred to life as the barrel pressed up against Yang. The ball of fire with the force of a grenade blew up point blank, sending Yang tumbling through the undergrowth. The fiery aura surrounding Yang faded away as she tried to struggle to her feet. Michele stared at her stonily. "That's enough of that." She said as her weapons disappeared.

All the strength Yang had accumulated during the fight left her all in one go as her aura flickered around her and faded, with was accompanied by a massive wave of exhaustion. Yang got one more look at Michele as her vision slowly faded to black and she collapsed into the dirt.

Michele watched Yang's eyes droop close and stepped forward. Picking her up with ease she began to make her way back towards the cliff face. She stopped at the ladder and glanced at Yang who was still unmoving. Letting out a sigh Michele began to climb the ladder, once she. reached the top she glanced around. Thankfully one else was outside however and she let out a breath of relief. Having someone fret over Yang would do nothing at the moment aside be a nuisance. Michele set Yang down for a moment and opened the back door. Turning to look at Yang clicked her tongue as she rubbed her jaw where Yang had hit her. "That one hurt."


	35. Chapter 35

**Its a shame I missed the stories anniversary date but it happens. In my hiatus I've been brainstorming a different little more homebrew story, so that's what I've more or less been doing. This story however is always fun to write but I just needed a good break from it, not that these chapters were consistant anyway but you get the point. Anyway, the other story im starting is called On the Other Side. same good old Tobias stuck in a different situation, I would appreciate it if you checked it out and gave the first chapter some feedback its a brave frontier only story but set in the same universe as this story. But enough about the other story please enjoy this one, as always feel free to let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!**

Chapter 13: Odd Jobs

Tobias woke up feeling incredibly refreshed before he even opened his eyes he let out a sigh of content and stretched the lack or soreness and burning blissful as he felt various muscles stretch. He opened his eyes and sat up quickly and easily finding Tilith on the other side of the bed smiling at him.  
"Good morning!" she said with a radiant smile.  
Tobias couldn't help but smile back at her. "Good morning."  
"How are you feeling?" She asked. Though the smirk on her face said she already knew the answer.  
Humoring her anyway Tobias sat up and rolled his shoulders "Good as new thanks to you."  
Tilith made a pleased sound as Tobias got out of the bed. "I think we should introduce you to everyone if they're awake, seeing as you did kinda appear out of nowhere."  
"They didn't seem too surprised." Tilth said.  
"Right but they are going to want to know who you are. People appearing out of nowhere isn't the strangest thing that happens here but still. For now, just let me tell them who you are. For all intents and purposes, you're the third member of my team. Also, don't mention you're a goddess."  
Tilith let out a sigh. "Whatever you say."  
"Thank you." Tobias said as he pulled a shirt on.  
Once they were done dressing he and Tilith made their way downstairs, it was still fairly early and unsurprisingly there were only a few people up. Ren, and Kali we milling about the kitchen while Ghira sat at the table with a steaming cup in front of him as he read the news on his scroll.  
"Good morning," Tobias said softly. The Ren and Kali both turned to look at him and Ghira looked up from his scroll as they offered their good mornings as well. Ghira stood up from the table and walked over smiling gently. "We saw you briefly last night so a proper greeting is in order," He said standing in front of Tilith. "I'm Ghira Belladonna, it's nice to meet you."  
"Tilith smiled brightly. "It's nice to meet you as well! My name is Tilith."  
As the morning went on and more and more people came down Tilith greeted them all in the same bubbly manner.

* * *

Yang woke up with a start. The last thing remembered was being surrounded by intense heat before blacking out, she sat up and looked around, realizing she was back in her room. Another thing that she realized was that her body absolutely ached, she felt like she had been run over by a flaming truck which, if she thought about it was a fairly close comparison to what actually happened.  
Yang swung herself out of bed and stood up only to nearly collapse, her legs feeling like jello. After a few minutes of struggling she finally managed to get dressed. She slowly made her way downstairs heading toward the kitchen.  
"What are you going to do dad?" Blake asked as she slowly ate next to her mother and father.  
Ghira grunted before speaking. "I'll have to do what I can here, hopefully, I'll be able to find Sienna and convince her that we need to work together again...Thankfully it doesn't seem like she was involved with Adam but the fact that she's missing doesn't bode well. So I'll` be staying in Mistral for a while until I can get the White Fang in order once again…"  
"Well you're free to stay here, we have the house for a few more days so it shouldn't be a problem it's all paid for." Qrow said as he lifted a cup of coffee in Ghira's direction.  
"I appreciate it." Ghira said with a thankful nod of his head, he turned back to Blake. "So what will you be doing after this?  
Blake was suddenly painfully aware of how the other side of the room became silent had become. She didn't have to look over to know Ruby was staring at with those hope-filled silver eyes.  
"I'll...be staying with my team." Blake said. Her ears twitching towards Ruby's muffled excitement, she finally let herself look over at the other side of the table. Jaune, Nora, and Ren all were smiling and Nora gave a thumbs up. Ruby was being restrained by Weiss who was straining to keep her at a respectable volume of cheer but had a large smile on her face as well.  
Ghira let out a big sigh. "I'm glad you've found such caring and capable teammates. As much as it pains me I won't stop you, you can make your own choices and you have shown me that you will make the right ones." He got up and enveloped Blake in a massive hug and after a few moments Kali joined in as well, whispering encouraging words into Blake's ear. Yang chose that moment to walk out into the kitchen a small smile on her face as well.  
Blake wiggled out of her parents embrace as she locked eyes with Yang. "Yang are you okay! I went to check on you this morning and-"  
"I'm fine Blake." Yang said quietly. "Just a little sore."  
Yang began to move towards the table when Tobias stood up. "Before you sit Yang. Could you meet me outside? You too Blake." he said as he walked out into the back, Tilith following behind him.  
Yang gave Blake a questioning look and Blake simply shrugged her shoulder. They walked outside together quickly finding Tobias and Tilith by the cliff side. As the door slid close Tobias glanced back. "I'll be waiting down there." He said before vanishing in a burst of white light.  
Taken aback Blake and Yang stared at the spot were Tobias and Tilith had just been standing. They quickly shook off their surprise and walked towards the cliff face as well, simultaneously jumping down.

What awaited them at the bottom was, surprising, to say the least. Tobias and Tilith were both standing over a fiery figure who Yang immediately recognized as Michele, sitting on her knees. Tobias looked faintly annoyed and Tilith seemed amused by the entire situation. Tobias let out a huff before speaking. "Thanks for coming down so quick, I wanted to start with an apology to both of you for how she acted," Tobias said as he pointedly glared at Michele, who twitched at the attention. "You know what to do." Tobias said looking down at Michele. She was silent for a moment before raising her head to look at Yang and Blake "I…" She trailed off before looking directly at Yang. "I am waiting for my thanks."  
Yang made a sound halfway between someone choking and a cough as they both looked at her incredulously. A fist instantly came down on Michele's head causing her to bend over again. "You want thanks after what you pulled?!" Tobias asked as he ground his knuckles into her head. "Not only that but do you know how much noise you made last night with that dam hand cannon of yours huh? The house is filled with people whose hearing is just as good as Ruby's!" he continued to talk as he pressed both first into opposite sides of her head and lifted her up.  
Michele groaned in pain as she put her hands on Tobias's wrist seemingly in an effort to pull his fist away but despite her massively overwhelming strength, she was unable to do anything against Tobias. "Y'know maybe I should take some of your advice after all." he said still grinding his knuckles into her head. "Let Yang and Blake beat you senseless then beat some sense back into you since you wanna act like this!"  
"Ahhh ow ow! OKAY!" Michele said through her groaning as her. Tobias stopped and stood silently.  
"Yang...Blake… I apologize for how I acted and how I spoke to you both last night...I...may have gone overboard." she glanced back at Tobias who didn't react and continued to stare at her. She pouted slightly and bowed her head. "I hope you can forgive me."  
Despite the apology obviously being difficult for her to get out it truly did seem honest.  
Yang and Blake were silent for a while as they stared down at Michele incredulously.  
Yang finally spoke up. "Apology...accepted, I guess." Blake gave her a sidelong glance and nodded as well. "It's in the past now."  
Tobias let out a deep breath and nodded with a relieved smile. Tilith whispered something in his ear and giggled at the grunt he let out in response.  
Michele had also visibly relaxed the moment Tobias did and looked up. Her eyes no longer apologetic but not hostile either, she stared pointedly at Yang as she got to her feet. "We will...work on your semblance later as well."  
Yang stared at her in surprise "WE will?"  
Michele's expression booked no argument. "Yes, WE will. However now isn't a good time, you've...I...strained you too much last night." she said while giving her a once over.

Before Yang could say anything in protest Michele abruptly vanished leaving nothing but multicolored motes of light in her place. Tobias cupped his chin, apparently thinking about it. "It's not a bad idea per say…" he muttered.  
"No, wait I think its a bad idea." Yang said.  
Tobias looked up and shrugged. "Anyway...there was another thing I wanted to ask Blake in particular. Kali and Ghirra, since they're your parents it would be fair to let them know the entire picture about everything that's going on and who I am really. They seem trustworthy and able to keep a secret." He looked over at Blake who nodded in agreement.  
"Sun and Illia…" Tobias trailed off locking his eyes with Blakes.  
"Blake did not waver in his gaze. "I'll vouch for them if you need me to but I know they can and will keep a secret. But do you really think we should tell them? It might put them in danger."  
Tobias let out a hum before shrugging his shoulders. "Qrow is the one who is worried about panic if word about magic gets out but okay if you trust them then so will I, it's up to you if you. Let's get back to the house then." He said as he looked over at Tilith. "By the way, do you two have strong stomachs?" Tobias asked as an afterthought. Yang and Blake looked at each other quizzically. "Yea?" Yang answered for them.  
"Good." Tobias said and Tilith instantly raised her hands into the air. "Here we go!" she said as white filled their visions.

Not a moment later the whiteness left their vision and it was replaced by the house they were staying in at the top of the cliff. Not a moment after that, however, their vision swam and Blake and Yang both lost any semblance of equilibrium as an almost painful bout of vertigo brought them to their knees, unable to tell which direction they were looking at anymore. It was so bad Blake started to dry heave and Yang let out painful hoarse coughs.  
"They're better off than you were the first time we did this." Tilith said snickering at Tobias.  
Tobias's expression was unreadable before he glumly said. "Yea…" he knelt down and patted them both on the backs. "Give it a few...minutes. It'll pass. Deep breaths help too." Tobias said supportively.  
"Wh-wh-what...what just-happened." Blake managed to get out in between gags.  
"Brief teleportation. Tilith can manipulate the gate and transport us pretty much anywhere nearly instantly. The first few trips in the gate are kinda disorienting though." It took Yang and Blake ten minutes to stop coughing and gagging but they couldn't get up still, their pale visages coated in sweat as their vision swam. After some adjusting, Tobias managed to prop them both on his shoulder and staggered into the house-their swaying not helping his balance.  
Tilith was ahead of them, a noticeable skip in her steps. "I'm really sorry about that. There's not much I can do for someone who isn't used to gate teleportation." She said apologetically. " it only took Tobias twenty minutes to recover though! You two are already recovering way faster than him!"  
Tobias grumbled something unintelligible. Tilith smiles and turned to open the door. As she slid it open she spoke back over her shoulder. "You know this place kinda reminds me of Ohbanahara, are there lots of shinobi here?"  
"I dunno, I haven't seen any but maybe that just means they're good at their job." Tobias said jokingly as he crossed the threshold. Unsurprisingly once people noticed the two slumped over forms on Tobias's shoulders they rushed over in surprise. Tilith acting as a barrier so they wouldn't get mobbed. "Its fine its fine!" she said waving her hands in front of her. "They are just a bit motion sick." Tilith continued to placate them as Tobias set them both down on the couch. "You guys want a drink?" Tobias asked Yang nodded while Blake shook her head. Tobias nodded his head and turned to the kitchen. "Tilith can you grab me a glass of water please?"  
"Give me a second!" Tilith said as she walked off. No longer blocked by Tilith, Ghira instantly rushed over. "What happened?"  
"It's fine dad. Just a little dizzy." Blake said brushing him off.  
Once Ghira stopped hover Blake, Qrow leaned over the edge of the couch. "I think this is a good time to talk about what comes next." the room went silent and Qrow nodded to himself. "So, we are going to Atlas, I know of a couple ways there but they aren't cheap but there's a city on the northmost point of Mistral, Argus. That'll be our ticket to Atlas."  
"If you need some money...perhaps we could help you a little." Kali said.  
"I appreciate the thought but I'm sure there are a few quick hunts we can do that will give us a few spending lien." Qrow said, politely declining.  
Kali pursed her lips for a moment and Tobias spoke up. "If its hunts let me take care of them, my team will be able to take care of them quickly."  
Qrow rubbed his chin as he considered it. "That's fine I guess, it will give us time to restock on our supplies as well. We'll check out what hunts are available tomorrow...seeing as there's a significant drop in hunters we should have no problems getting a hunt.  
Tobias smiled. "Its the least I can do, gotta pull my weight right?"  
At that Qrow snorted incredulously but didn't say anything more.  
"Hey Tobias…" a chilly voice suddenly rang out causing Tobias to stiffen. "You're seriously going to take another job? When I just got here?"  
"It's necessary!" Tobias said defensively.  
Tilith pouted. "We're supposed to be on vacation! I at least wanted you to show me around the town!"  
"It shouldn't take long-I swear!" Tobias said as he backed away from the advancing Tilith.  
"It looks like we accidentally sparked a lovers quarrel," Kali said giggling at the two, the rest of the room smiling wryly at the commotion. sharing the same sentiments.  
Tobias suddenly grabbed Tilith by the shoulders and spun her around so she was facing everyone. "R-right! Official introductions!" Tobias said suddenly, clearing his throat. "This is Tilith! My partner."  
Suddenly thrust into the spotlight Tilith blinked in surprise. "Go on Tilith introduce yourself." Tobias said.  
Tilith turned her neck slightly and glared at him, letting him know he was not going to get out of this. "It's nice to meet you all." she said turning back with a dazzling smile. "As Tobias said my name is Tilith, the pretty go-" Tobias quickly covered her mouth with his hand and interrupted her. "Prettiest girl around! She's a bit of an egotist but you get used to it and shes actually pretty nice so don't mind her."  
Tilith stared at him, absolutely outraged but Tobias gave her a pointed look and she didn't say anything else on the matter.

Unsurprisingly Tilith was able to get along with everyone with little effort. Even Illia who had been determined to keep a stoic distance from anything involving Tobias had her walls broken down by Tilith.  
"Shes just an unstoppable force of cheer huh." Qrow said as he sat next to Tobias.  
"Yea, once she gets going it's hard to stop her." Tobias said as he watched her flit around the room "Also, about tomorrow. I'll send you with a few of my units. Just help them pick out some good hunts and they'll take care of the rest."  
"Sounds like a plan." Qrow said as he took a sip of alcohol.

* * *

"Pardon us, we'll be taking this hunt." A woman said as she stepped through the crowd, downloading the hunt information on the scroll they borrowed from Ruby. The woman wore a black armored jacket with a black and red cloak trailing behind her. Her olive green hair was fitted through golden hairpieces. Red eyes glared at the people in her way as she made her way through the crowd.  
Trailing behind her was Julius. Who was smiling sheepishly at the disgruntled people the woman was shoving her way through. "Marlow you could be, ya know a bit more polite?" Julius asked as he dodged around the shaft of someone's weapon  
"I've been polite enough," Marlow said roughly. "The only thing that matters is getting the job done. These humans are of no importance to me."  
"So eager to be helpful to summoner!" Julius said chuckling as they finally had stepped outside.  
Marlow snorted. "A chance to be out and about is not something ill pass up, I'm surprised he picked me in the first place." even though her mouth was covered Julius could tell she had a twisted sneer on her face. "Especially after he realized I was the one who originally killed Signas." Marlow continued to fiddle with the Scroll as per Qrow's instructions, booking a flight to their destination.  
"Summoner is someone who can look past the person and see their true value. No matter how vile they may come across."  
"Vile huh, trying to start something?"  
"Nope, remember Garrett? Plus if you think about it, especially with those weapons of yours you really do fit in here." Julius said with a nonchalant smile.  
Marlow glared at him but said nothing more. With the conversation killed, they walked in silence to a small designated pickup area to wait for their ride into the wilderness  
"Ah, what was this hunt again?." Julius asked as he looked towards the vast forest ahead.  
"Grimm infestation on one of the major mainland trading routes, lots of different types have been spotted they need to be cleared out."  
"You got your spheres from summoner right?"  
"Of course. Let's try not to destroy too much of the forest alright?"  
"It should be fine. I heard hunters destroy a lot of things fighting grimm anyway, we are in the clear to go all out as long as no one else is around." Marlow said grinning.  
"We got lucky no one else seems to be going in this area huh?"  
"Mhm."  
The stood in silence for another ten minutes or so when an Airbus finally pulled up to the landing pad.  
Marlow started forward. "That should be us."  
As they entered the Airbus a door opened inside showing the cockpit.  
"Pleasure to be your pilot today you two." he started his introduction when he slowly trailed off as he got a closer look at them. "You two are packed awfully light for a mission like this."  
"Don't worry about it," Marlow said, roughly cutting the man off before he could add anything else. Worry about getting us to our destination and we'll send you the message when we are done. Don't get too comfortable after you drop us off though, this should only take a few hours." With that Marlow sat down and went silent, leaving the man speechless Julius just shrugged in apology and sat down as well."

* * *

"Sorry Ma'am but the area the ship crashed in is far too dangerous for only two people to go, four is the absolute minimum." A fairly young attendant told Alessa.  
Alessa looked at the attendant with disbelief. "I hardly doubt anything in that area could pose a threat to us."  
The attendant simply shook her head in exasperation. "The ships last known coordinates put it right in the middle of the swamps. Especially after the crash, Grimm will be around the area in a higher concentration than they usually are."  
Alessa let out a quiet groan, but before she could say anything else a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. Turning to look at the person who did Alessa let out a surprised "Oh!" as she recognized the face. "You were...I'm sorry I don't believe I caught either of your names. I'm Alessa"  
The familiar woman's face smiled brightly at her. "I'm glad you at least remembered me. I'm Coral, this is my partner Jet." She said as she gestured to the imposing figure standing behind her.  
"It's nice to see you are still well." Jet said warmly. "Who's your friend?" he asked in a follow-up manner.  
Coral's eyes also snapped to the woman wearing a blue cowboy hat with large caliber bullets strapped across the front. She wore a light blue vest with short shorts her boots, which her also blue had tassels hanging off of them her brown hair was tied into two loose ponytails as they flowed down her back. Completing her ensemble was a yellow scarf that was wrapped around her neck, with a sheriffs star attached to it as well as various other places on her clothing. Her eyes were an icy blue and her left eye had three upside down triangle markings underneath.  
The cowgirl at Coral and Jet. "My name is Ri- Millie. It's nice to meet you both."  
Standing just a few inches shorter than Mille, Coral looked up at her. "You're her partner then?"  
Millie nodded in confirmation and Coral gave a small smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you."  
Jet spoke up again, redirecting his attention to Alessa. "Well, I do hope you'll forgive us for eavesdropping but we overheard your conversation with the attendant, and Coral had figured, that we should lend you guys a hand."  
For her part, Coral looked back at Jet in surprise and outrage. "You!"  
Jet simply laughed and continued. "We all would make four right? And searching those crash sites are important to you right Alessa?"  
Alessa was taken back for a moment. "Ah, I'm surprised you remembered." Alessa mulled over the proposition for a moment before nodding her head. "If you don't mind then...we would be pleased to have your assistance."  
Coral's face immediately brightened. "Of course! We would love to."  
"Grand, well let's get all the paperwork straightened out and we will meet at the airstrip in an hour or so? Is that agreeable?" Alessa asked. The two nodded in agreement and after filing the hunt information with the attendant they went to prepare.  
Jet and Coral watched them walk off, Coral had an air of anxiety about her. "Jet." she said not turning about. "I'll kill you if you keep butting in."  
This time Jet laughed, loudly. "You can thank me later. I'll leave the rest up to you."

Alessa let out a sigh as she and Rickel walked back to the home they were renting in order to grab their "supplies".  
"That was...unfortunate. To think that the cover story would backfire like that."  
Millie shrugged. "Unexpected but even if we split the reward out share is still sizable."  
"You're right. In the meantime... let's grab some things and get to the airstrip, I want to enjoy the fresh air a while longer..." Alessa said with an unreadable expression on her face.  
They stopped by the house briefly and grabbed the bare minimum of what would count as hunting supplies before setting off for the airstrip.  
"Are you ok Alessa?" Millie asked.  
Alessa glanced down at Mille as they sat on a bench overlooking a cliff side. "Me? I'm fine? ...No, I'm better than fine, I get to be out here enjoying a task given to me by summoner."  
If Millie had been a normal person this answer might have satisfied her, however, Millie frowned. "You're worried he won't need you after this?"  
Alessa stiffened slightly. She opened her mouth and closed it again, after a while, she spoke up. "Im...not like you Millie. Summoner requested you personally, he picked you out of hundreds. I was simply called from the gate and appeared before him... Summoner's job requires him to be strong and as a result, he needs us as units to be strong as well. Frankly… compared to a lot of you I just don't compare."  
Millie was silent as well. "I haven't been with summoner for as long as you have...I feel that you know that he isn't that kind of person, being able to probe his thoughts, that much is obvious he wouldn't get rid of you just because you think you are weak. The fact that you fought battles with him shows that he trusts your strength."  
Alessa let out a breath and leaned back smiling. "...Thank you."  
"Don't mention it." Millie said with a smile before changing the subject. "This will be my first task given to me by him… does he usually do things this way?"  
"No, not usually. Maybe a few times if we are surveying a new area but nothing like this usually. It's because of the world we are in right now...the inherent dangers aren't really enough for summoner to worry about grouping up, they aren't terribly strong with a few exceptions."  
"Oh man you guys haven't been waiting long have you?" an excitable voice shouted out behind them causing Alessa and Millie to give a little start.  
"No, we haven't been here long." Alessa said.  
"Thank goodness. So, you got everything you'll need?" Coral asked as she looked over them and the moderately sized travel packs on the ground next to them.  
"We're ready as we will ever be." Millie said with a smile.  
"Great. Let's get this hunt started!" Coral said with a small cheer.


End file.
